Oil & Energy

Oil & Gas Conference: Firm Plans $3b Petrochemical, Fertiliser Africa Investment

Published

23 seconds ago

August 31, 2026

The Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited (IEPL) has revealed plans to expand its petrochemical and fertiliser plants with a $3 billion investment to become Africa’s largest petrochemical and fertiliser hub.

The plan, according to the company, is to be executed within the next five years.

Managing Director of IEPL, Manish Mundra, disclosed this while delivering a keynote address at the 7th Mid/Downstream Oil and Gas Conference, in PortHarcourt.

The conference was organised by the Centre for Gas, Refining and Petrochemical Engineering (CGPRE) University of Port Harcourt, in conjunction with the Nigerian Society of Chemical Engineers.

Represented by the Head, Fertiliser Manufacture, Indorama Eleme Fertiliser and Chemicals Limited, Upendra Singh, Mundra noted that Nigeria holds Africa’s largest gas reserve and second-largest oil reserve.

Mundra said while the country’s refining capacity is expanding rapidly, yet the country still imports the bulk of its plastic, fertilisers, specialty chemicals, among others

The Indorama boss noted that repositioning the sector means converting hydrocarbon endowments into diversified high-value industrial output.

He urged the government and stakeholders in the sector to look into the issues of thin downstream base, innovation gap, and sustainability imperative to harness the huge benefits of the oil and gas sectors.

“Nigeria again has the resource, large resource base for oil and gas, which is exported as Liquefied Natural Gas or converted into polymers, fertilisers, and downstream products. The past five years have changed the arithmetic of the choice.

“For this, we need to have the policy reform, like PIA 2021 and subsidy deregulation, which are resetting the investment signals across the value chain as new downstream landscape, large-scale refining and petrochemical capacities are coming up, pushing Nigeria from import dependence toward the next export state status,” he said.

Mundra stated that increasing population growth, agriculture, construction, and packaging keep lifting African demand for polymers and fertilisers.

“We need to capitalise on the Middle East crisis and solve logistic challenges to make Africa more attractive for the West.

“We have the highest massive gas stock in Africa, more than 206 TCF, which can be converted into orifins: polyolifins, ammonia, urea, and intermediate integrated—integrated complexes. It can further be converted into resins and packaging pipes, textiles, for domestic consumption or exported to West and Central Africa,” he added.

Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman, Governing Board, CGRPE, Anthony Ogbuigwe, said the conference was targeted at sensitising policy makers in the country on the need to add value to the oil and gas sector by utilising by-products of the sector to create more wealth for the country.

Oil & Energy

DoE Begins Tests for Fracked Geothermal

Published

20 seconds ago

August 31, 2026

The Tide

The Trump administration is no friend of wind and solar. Axed subsidies and project suspensions have been the attitude towards those alternative forms of energy. Geothermal, however, is something else. The current Department of Energy is very much for it. In fact, it is so much for it that it funded an experiment that would show whether fracking technology could be used to generate geothermal anywhere in the world.

Geothermal energy is, simply put, heat. It is heat that is generated from the decay of radioactive elements in the planet’s mantle. The amount of energy this heat translates into is quite impressive. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, just 33,000 feet below the Earth’s surface, there is 50,000 times more energy than the energy all the oil and gas in the world can produce. This energy can be harnessed and used for heating and power generation.

However, there is a tricky aspect to it. First of all, 33,000 feet is quite deep, and getting to this depth to tap the planet’s sub-crust heat is both technologically challenging and expensive. This has made geothermal an energy source with limited practical applications in locations where the heat is closer to the surface, notably Iceland. Yet some believe fracking can help make it easier to tap that heat, and the Department of Energy’s FORGE laboratory is putting this belief to the test.

The purpose of the test is to literally create a water reservoir in a rock formation by injecting water deep into the rock, using hydraulic fracturing to open up space for the water, and then, once it heats up there, draw it out and use it for heating or power generation. The big question is whether the water heated up in the rock would stay hot enough for power generation or cool too quickly to use it for these purposes.

“There’s potential,” Annick Adjei, a senior research analyst at Wood Mackenzie, told Bloomberg. “But the risk is really in repeatability. We need a bit more in the way of milestones to see how things will go.”

According to the Department of Energy, there have been some positive results from earlier tests that encourage optimism. In its news release about the current test, the DoE said that two years ago FORGE had successfully stimulated the injection and production wells, meaning they managed to replicate a fracking process that traps water in the rock for an extended period. It then started injecting water at a rate of 10 barrels per minute. The water heated to temperatures of 370 F. That test lasted 30 days. The one currently taking place in Utah will last up to four months in order to generate more reliable data.

“The positive results achieved by the [FORGE] project over the past few years have been very beneficial to the industry…this extended circulation will provide answers to the pressing questions about thermal decline and water loss, allowing geothermal companies to continue growing and to flourish,” the head of FORGE, principal investigator Dr. Kristie McLin, said.

Promising results are one part of the flourishing equation. Costs, unfortunately, are another. For all its potential, geothermal remains a rather expensive way to generate energy when compared with gas or coal, for instance. The closed-loop system that FORGE is testing in Utah could expand the areas where we could utilize the Earth’s heat, so to speak, but the costs would need to come down first in order to make the technology truly commercial.

The possibly ironic part is that the oil and gas industry has been indispensable for the geothermal industry because it is the industry that knows how to drill deep and (relatively) cheaply. If there is one industry that can make the commercial viability case for geothermal, it would be oil and gas.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

Oil & Energy

NERC Issues 194 Electricity Licences, Permits …….. As Mini-grids, Metering Surge

Published

21 seconds ago

August 31, 2026

The Tide

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has issued 194 licences, permits and certifications across Nigeria’s electricity market in 2025, representing a 15.5% increase from the 168 approvals recorded in 2024.

The increase reflects continued regulatory activity across both conventional and decentralised electricity segments, particularly in mini-grid development and electricity metering.

NERC disclosed this in its 2025 Annual Report, with the approvals covering electricity generation, distribution, trading, mini-grids and metering activities.

The regulator revealed that mini-grid permits accounted for the largest number of approvals in 2025, with NERC issuing 64 permits.

The report further shows that Meter Service Providers received 43 approvals, while Meter Asset Providers accounted for 30. Captive power projects received 31 licences.

NERC also issued seven licences for electricity distribution networks (IEDN), six off-grid generation licences, five embedded generation licences and six trading licences.

According to NERC, two on-grid generation licences were issued during the year.

The regulator’s 2025 approvals were therefore heavily concentrated in distributed generation and metering, with mini-grids, captive power and metering-related permits accounting for 168 of the 194 approvals.

In 2024, NERC issued 168 licences, permits and registrations across the sector, the report stated.

The approvals included 22 off-grid generation licences, 39 Meter Asset Provider (MAP) permits, 36 Meter Service Provider permits, 27 mini-grid permits and 24 captive power licences.

NERC also issued nine trading licences, seven mini-grid registrations, three on-grid generation licences and one System Operator licence.

The composition of approvals changed significantly in 2025, with the regulator issuing substantially more mini-grid permits while approvals for Meter Asset Providers and Meter Service Providers also remained significant.

In April, NERC issued the Mini-Grid Regulations 2026 aimed at improving electricity access across Nigeria, particularly in underserved and unserved communities.

Recall that the NERC had issued a new directive introducing stricter monitoring and transparency requirements for Nigeria’s power transmission system.

Oil & Energy

Energy Correspondents Congratulates Isa, Wunti on WEC Appointments

Published

24 seconds ago

August 31, 2026

The Tide

The Association of Energy Correspondents, Abuja, FCT (AECAF) has congratulated Mr Abdulrazaq Isa and Mr Bala Wunti on their appointments as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the World Energy Council (WEC) Nigeria, respectively.

The association also congratulated members of the inaugural Governing Board of WEC Nigeria.

In a statement signed by the Chairman of AECAF, John Ofikhenua, and issued on Thursday, in Abuja, Ofikhenua said the diverse experience of the appointees in the energy industry, regulation, finance, academia and professional associations provided a strong foundation for the council’s operations in Nigeria.

He said Isa’s contributions to indigenous refining and industrial development had strengthened local participation in Nigeria’s energy sector.

“His appointment as Chairman reflects the confidence placed in his leadership, entrepreneurial vision and commitment to advancing the country’s energy aspirations,” he said.

Ofikhenua also described Wunti’s appointment as timely, citing his more than three decades of experience in the energy industry.

He said Wunti’s expertise in strategy, policy formulation, revenue optimisation and sectoral reforms would contribute to the growth of the council.

“We are confident that his integrity, experience and strategic leadership will take the council and Nigeria’s wider energy sector to greater heights,” he said.

The AECAF chairman described Nigeria’s return to the World Energy Council as significant, saying it restored the country’s place within one of the world’s influential energy networks.

According to him, the membership provides Nigeria with a platform to contribute to global discussions on energy security, affordability, sustainability and equitable energy transition.

He said the development would also create opportunities for Nigeria to attract investment, deepen international partnerships and promote technological innovation adding that it would enable Nigeria and Africa to advance their priorities in global energy discussions and decisions.

He commended President Bola Tinubu for the leadership that facilitated Nigeria’s return to the World Energy Council.

According to him, the development further demonstrates the administration’s commitment to repositioning Nigeria as a leading voice in the global energy community.

He said it would also help to create an enabling environment for investment and sustainable growth in the energy sector.

Ofikhenua noted that AECAF, as an association committed to promoting transparency and informed discourse in the energy sector, recognised the strategic role of WEC Nigeria stating that the council’s role had become more important as the world navigated energy transition and emerging geopolitical challenges.

The AECAF chairman expressed the association’s readiness to build a productive relationship with WEC Nigeria and support informed public dialogue on policies, investments and innovations in the sector.

“AECAF wishes you wisdom, strength and outstanding success as you undertake this historic responsibility of advancing Nigeria’s interests within the African and global energy community,” he said.