By Chuks Oyema-Aziken
The National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), and Stakeholder Democracy Network, SDN, a United Kingdom-based non-governmental organisation, have entered into an agreement to use satellite technology to identify hotspots of methane emissions in Ogoniland and Niger Delta region.
Director-General, NOSDRA, Engr. Chukwuemeka Woke, disclosed this during a meeting with the Executive Director of SDN, Adam Heal.
He stressed that NOSDRA had a clear mandate to ensure a clean and secure environment in the nation’s petroleum industry with the support of the
NGO.
Woke hoped the prototype Methane Tracker designed by SDN will vastly contribute to tracking methane emissions in the oil and gas sector.
Woke acknowledged that the toolshave helped in improving transparency and accountability in the oil and gas pollutions industry.
“If we can tackle methane, then we have a better chance of reaching our long-term climate goals,” the DG said.
Earlier in his address, Heal disclosed that the organization had been operating in Nigeria for the past 20years, providing monitoring and policy advisory work in Nigeria and economic diversification in the oil-bearing Niger Delta region.
He stated that NOSDRA had been a reliable partner with SDN for over a decade.
He said, “We have been working with other regulators like NOSDRA to cooperate with oil and gas companies to help respond to the emissions, fix the problem, and reduce the impact on the environment. So we are currently building a prototype satellite-based methane tracker.”
He mentioned other areas of support to the Agency to include involvement in the Ogoni clean-up being handled by Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) in the area of testing soil and water samples.
