NUPRC don collect satellite tracker to monitor methane from oil operations
- NUPRC don formally collect one digital platform wey dey track methane emissions from oil and gas facilities.
- The tracker join satellite detection with on-site measurements and dem go share am with the downstream regulator.
- Oil companies must change from estimated to measured emissions reporting by first quarter of 2027.
Oil and gas operators for Nigeria go now dey monitored well well on methane, the invisible gas wey dey escape from wells, pipelines and processing plants. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) don collect one digital platform, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Emission Tracker (NOGIET), to monitor those emissions.
The handover happen for the commission headquarters for Abuja. The NUPRC chief executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, receive am through Captain John Tonlagha, the Executive Commissioner for Health, Safety, Environment and Community (HSEC), wey represent her for the event, according to one statement by the commission Head of Media and Corporate Communications, Eniola Akinkuotu.
The platform join three things together: satellite images wey dey show methane plumes for air, maps of oil blocks and pipelines, and readings wey dem take for the facilities themselves. Regulators fit use am to spot hotspots, check whether wetin operators report match wetin the satellites see, and decide where to send inspectors.
Why e matter
Methane dey trap far more heat than carbon dioxide for short term, and e dey leak during routine oil and gas work. Nigeria don promise to cut im methane emissions by 60 per cent by 2035, stop routine gas flaring and reach net-zero by 2060. The tracker na to help the country show real progress instead of rely on figures wey the companies themselves supply.
Under the commission 2022 guidelines on fugitive methane and greenhouse gases, operators must move from estimating their emissions to measuring them by first quarter of 2027. The new platform go make that switch easier to police.
NOGIET was built with the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), one non-governmental group, and dem fund am with money and expertise from the Global Methane Hub. SDN board chairman, Inemo Samiama, talk say the group dey give the system to the commission free of charge.
SDN hands over NOGIET in full, front end and back end, at no cost to the Commission.
He talk say the platform go move from im temporary address for nogiet.ng to one subdomain wey the commission own. Samiama also explain why the design cover the whole industry: methane no dey stop for the line between upstream and downstream operations, so one system dey serve both regulators.
The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) go also use the platform, wey the commission talk say go help the two agencies coordinate their monitoring.
Eyesan talk say the tracker fit the commission push to digitise im work and e go make emissions data more credible and consistent.
Wetin happen next
The test go dey for the integration. The platform usefulness depend on how well dem plug am into the commission monitoring and data systems, on the quality of information wey operators supply, and on whether regulators act when the data show problem. The first real deadline na the measurement-based reporting requirement for early 2027.
