Page 9 - AfrElec Week 20

AfrElec GAS-FIRED GENERATION AfrElec
Utility executive calls for expanding gas-to-power schemes in Nigeria
NIGERIA
NATURAL gas prices have fallen significantly over the last year, and energy demand is also down as a result of the coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic.
Nevertheless, the head of Century Power GenerationhasurgedNigeriatomoveforward with plans to expand the use of gas as a fuel for electricity production.
Chukwueloka Umeh, the company’s CEO, told The Guardian last week that recent events highlighted the need for diversification of the Nigerian economy. The country has been dependent on oil revenues for too long and should take steps to realise its potential in other areas, he said.
The gas sector can play an important role in the diversification process, Umeh commented.
“In the face of the cyclic oil prices, we must now see a Nigeria without oil and immediately start diversifying to agriculture and manufactur- ing,” he said. “In order to do this successfully, the gas and power industries need to be unshackled and supported to encourage substantial private investments and growth.” He acknowledged that the government had taken steps in this direction
but called for more concrete action with respect to ensuring steady deliveries of electricity to res- idential and business customers. “It is time to do things differently. We should stop the endless committee meetings, conferences and engage- ments,”heremarked.
Umeh acknowledged that potential inves- tors were reluctant to join gas-to-power pro- jects because of concerns about tariff rates, unexpected changes in the regulatory environ- ment and difficulties in enforcing contracts. He asserted, though, that private sector firms could work within the existing regulatory regime to push gas-to-power projects forward. This is a better strategy than tying participation to legis- lative action, he added.
“Pick a set of regulations, such as the ones that birthed the only project-financed power plant in Nigeria to date, Azura power, [then] respect con- tracts and the rule of law to give local and foreign investors comfort, and just get it done,” he said.
He added: “We have all the expertise we need to make the industry work, so let’s stop searching for the perfect solution elsewhere. Take whatever we have, and just make it work.”™
FUELS
Kenyan trader touts rail, barge for shipments
KENYA
THE head of a Kenyan fuel trading company has talked up the advantages of using Kisumu, a port on Lake Victoria, as a starting point for deliveries of fuel to Uganda and Tanzania.
Edward Odero, the director of Tricon Inter- national, noted last week that most Kenyan trad- ers use tanker trucks to ship their products from Kisumu, one of the endpoints of the Kenya Pipe- line Co. (KPC) system, to customers in Tanzania and Uganda. This method contributes to heavy traffic on the roads that connect these countries, and in turn, the congestion contributes to the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pan- demic, he said.
Road traffic forces drivers to spend hours in close proximity while waiting for clearance to cross the border, he explained. As a result, the rate of infection among drivers using this route has been climbing, he noted.
Conditions will be safer for traders that opt to use the port’s rail and barge infrastructure to move fuel out of KPC’s Kisumu terminal in tankers, Odero asserted. “There will be limited
contact and interaction between sailors and crew members operating the vessels, as they will remain in the tanker and allow the Ugandan staff to drive locomotives and the products,” he was quoted as saying by The Monitor.
Crew members working in the port will be tested regularly for COVID-19, he added.
According to Odero, traders using the port of Kisumu will be able to use several different ves- sels to ship fuel across Lake Victoria. They can secure access to a tug vessel, MT Harambee, or one of two tank barges, Tanker I and Tanker II, he explained. The tank barges were built locally, at the Kisumu Marine Yard, and are fully certi- fied to carry petroleum products, he said.
He went on to say that Kisumu’s facilities were “now in total readiness and on standby to start operations from [the] KPC Kisumu depot to Uganda.” KPC conducted a dry-run test of this route last year, as well as a wet-run test that involved the transport of petroleum products from Kisumu to the Ugandan port of Jinja, he said. ™
Week 20 21•May•2020 w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m P9