The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the arm of the World Bank that focuses on developing countries, has published a comprehensive atlas and report charting the steps Nigeria must take to drive its CCS industry and decarbonisation more generally.
The analysis acknowledges that Nigeria is wrestling with twin challenges. It is on track to be the third most populous country in the world by 2050 – with the population projected to rise from 210 million today to 411 million – and yet, like every nation, it must meet its rising demographic and energy needs sustainably while reducing emissions.
The IFC notes that carbon capture and storage (CCS), including the country’s depleted oil and gas wells, is one potential means of Nigeria maintaining economic growth while meeting climate targets.
Nigeria’s Energy Transition Plan has also highlighted how CCS is a decarbonisation pathway for natural gas and hard-to-abate industries.
Availability of data on geological storage locations, and access to it, remain one of the barriers for developing countries. Across the whole of the Middle East and North Africa region, for example, there are only three in operation, three in construction and three in advanced development. And there are no projects across the rest of the African continent.
The potential
Nigeria potentially has 10,700 gigatonnes of CO2 storage resources, which means it has sufficient capacity to support decarbonisation of its key industrial sectors.
Its emission sources are mainly in the Niger Delta, in the regions of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri and Sapele, which have potential CO2 transport networks due to legacy oil and gas pipelines and access to port infrastructure. “The Miocene formations of the Niger Delta have been identified as carrying the greatest potential for CO2 storage,” the IFC notes.
The report also details the potential of the Dahomey, Chad and Bida basins as well as the Benue Trough.
Policies and industry
Nigeria has several regulations and bodies which could help support CCS development, notably its Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, its National Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority and the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, for its part, regulates all hydrocarbon licences and operates joint venture agreements and production-sharing contracts.
But permitting needs to be addressed. Adjustments to existing laws are necessary to designate a regulator with the authority to oversee all regulatory and permitting decisions for CCS. Moreover, the regulatory landscape involves multiple authorities, each with jurisdiction over distinct segments of environmental and energy regulation.
As things stand, Nigeria does not yet have specific CO2 storage standards. In order to implement full-scale CCS projects, it would need to introduce several specific regulations.
CCS is best suited to large stationary emitters and mostly applied to natural gas processing, power generation and industrial production.
Based on operating capacity, it is estimated that Nigeria’s industrial CO2 emissions are 28 million tonnes per annum (mtpa), with cement accounting for 77% (22.94 mtpa) and ammonia/fertilisers 21% (9.32 mtpa), while LNG is the third highest CO2 contributor.
Natural gas processing (19.63 mtpa) leads the energy sectors, followed by gas power generation (19.12 mtpa) and petroleum refining (12.64 mtpa).
Nigeria’s main non-industrial emissions include transport, agriculture, and residential and commercial consumption.
Transport options
Pipelines are likely to be the main CO2 transport method but ship, truck and rail all offer potential. Fortunately Nigeria already has more than 1,000km of connected pipelines in place.
