SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT

Gas Flaring: NLNG to the Rescue

There is no doubting the fact that our environment is under serious threat from pollution, chief of which is poisonous emissions from factories and oil rigs. Acid rain and unusual hotness of the sun due to the depletion of the ozone layer are just two of the serious implications of environmental pollution. There is genuine fear that the existence of mankind itself would be at risk if something is not done about the environment and its threats.
Against this background, the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) came into the nation’s Energy sector with project facilities aimed at curtailing the hazards posed by gas flaring. The control of the impact of the project facilities in the operating phase starts with a proper design and planning process, which incorporates state of the art measures to control the process, to minimise the safety risks and to protect the environment. The focus of such systems is prevention of impact in the first place. Implemented design solutions and general safeguard features apply to the LNG processing and export facilities.NLNG has developed a comprehensive regime for the management of Health, Safety and Environmental and Social issues since its incorporation in 1989 and in preparation for and execution of the Base and Expansion projects.

This regime includes a range of Company wide policies, management systems, controls and procedures. These have been drawn from Nigerian and international oil and gas industry experience, with particular input from its shareholders.

NLNG adopts the generally accepted definition of Sustainable Development "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" (WCED, 1987). Sustainable Development comprises three areas of attention that are closely linked: economic development, environmental protection and social responsibility.

NLNG regularly reviews its activities and decisions against criteria for Sustainable Development through the inclusion of Sustainable Development in the relevant sections of the Common Management System and related systems. Moreover, NLNG use indicators to measure progress in its contributions to Sustainable Development and to communicate efforts in the respect to stakeholders inside and outside the Company.

The Company recognises that the development, implementation and maintenance of a system for the long term management of the environment must form an integral part of business quality management. NLNG has therefore adopted an integrated approach to Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) management. This is standard practice for the oil and gas industry. In order to achieve uniform standards across the entire Company, a structured approach is used, based upon a HSE Management System (HSE-MS). The HSE-MS is defined as a structured set of controls for managing HSE in the business to ensure and to demonstrate that HSE objectives are met. Such an HSE-MS was successfully developed and implemented for the Base project. The HSE-MS for the NLNGPlus project uses the same structure and organisational framework.
The HSE-MS contains procedures for examining and assessing environmental hazards and effects, both direct and indirect, from the project. Monitoring programmes, reporting procedures and control programmes are also specified. There have also been regular audits of the HSE-MS, which have identified various areas for improvement. The findings of the audits will be taken into account in the development of the HSE-MS for the NLNGPlus project. The committed mitigation measures resulting from this Impact Assessment will be integrated into the management system for implementation, performance monitoring and reporting. The Community Relations Department has already implemented a full programme of public consultation during the Base and Expansion projects. This has been successful and will be continued and expanded during the NLNGPlus project.

The environmental aspects of NLNG's HSE Management System has been certified to the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) standard on 14th March 2002 in key areas of the plant site.

The construction contractor will be required to work fully in line with NLNG's policies and standards. Specific HSE standards for construction have been issued in the Project Specification (PS), which will be part of the EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) contract. In the same PS it is a requirement that the EPC Contractor shall have an ISO 14001 accreditation.