To combat oil spills in Nigeria, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency of the Nigerian government, in collaboration with the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), has created a satellite-based methane tracker.
During a visit to NOSDRA’s offices in Abuja on Wednesday, Adam Heal, the Team Lead for SDN, an international non-governmental organisation, revealed this information. He added that satellite-based technology is an emerging project used to locate hot spots where methane is growing.
According to him, this would make it possible for agencies such as NOSDRA and other regulators to work with oil and gas businesses to address emissions, resolve issues, and lessen the negative effects on the environment.
Heal clarified that methane plays a significant role in climate change, pointing out that although its effects on the climate are far more severe than those of carbon dioxide, addressing methane will increase the likelihood of achieving long-term climate goals.
“To date, two very noteworthy tools have been generated; we were happy to contribute to the co-development of the gas flare tracker and the oil spill monitor with NOSDRA.
Most recently, we have been delighted to collaborate with NOSDRA to create a prototype methane tracker for Nigeria’s oil and gas industry. This was made possible by a project that the Dutch government funded.
We created a prototype and gave it to the team so they could provide input. And right now, we’re really trying to raise more funds to expand that prototype into a completely functional technology that will help us better govern this crucial climate’, Heal stated.
He said that phase one of the prototype was finished and that the deal’s participants were eager to mobilise resources and produce step two.
Chukwuemeka Woke, the Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of NOSDRA, was quoted in a report published in the Punch newspaper on Thursday. Woke stated that the organisation was committed to advancing accountability and transparency in the oil industry, which is why it supported efforts to develop the Nigerian oil spill monitor.
Regarding the collaboration between the two organisations, Woke stated that the produced prototype emitting tracker would produce data that would be entered into Nigeria’s Department of Climate Change’s carbon emission reporting system.
