By Angela Atabo

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria to have a methane tracker to reduce emissions in the oil and gas sector.

The Executive Director of Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), Adam Heal, made this known in Abuja on Friday during a workshop organised by SDN in collaboration with Nigeria’s central government.

The workshop had “Presentation of the Prototype Methane Tracker” as its theme.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that methane is a potent greenhouse gas that is released during oil and gas production, processing and transportation.

Heal said that methane affects climate change by contributing to increased warming and reducing its emissions is critical to mitigating it.

He said that methane tracker would enable Nigeria to monitor methane emissions, have credible methane emission data from emitters in the oil and gas sector, and help effective regulation.

“The SDN has been supporting the tracking and monitoring of methane emissions in Nigeria.

“The tracker is being developed by SDN in collaboration with the Federal Government and supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“This is because we all know that without better identification of major methane sources, it will be difficult for government, relevant regulatory agencies and the private sector to identify and respond accordingly,” he said.

He said that the idea was to try and take more action on methane, getting a better baseline picture where emissions are occurring and staying on top as quickly as possible.

“Identifying new sources of methane is absolutely critical.

“What we are hoping to do is to build on freely available data from sources and integrate it into a platform which is tailored specifically for the needs of Nigerian regulators and industry,” he said.

Heal said that the tracker would serve as a one-stop shop to regulators and others, providing real information.

He said that it would also help to tell which companies were making efforts to reduce methane emissions.

“In some cases, some companies may be making efforts and they may not have the credible data needed to show it,” he said.

Dr Jude Samuelson, Head of Environment, SDN, said that the tracker would make it easy for the government and regulatory agencies to have credible data and help to report emission reduction globally.

According to him, this is necessary so that Nigeria’s nationally determined contributions will be correctly reported.

Samuelson said that the tracker was a ground breaking tool that, if well developed, would be useful for the regulatory agencies.

According to him, the workshop is the first phase of presenting the prototype to regulators in the oil and gas sector to get their feedback and recommendations.

Ms Adesola Olatunde, a representative of the National Council on Climate Change Secretariat, said that the tracker was a significant milestone for Nigeria.

“This is very critical and it is a a very good thing for the country.

“What is needed now is a detailed collaboration and engagement with the relevant stakeholders to ensure that the tracker fits into our national priorities and then we can report appropriately,” she said. (NAN)(www.nannews.ng)

Edited by Kadiri Abdulrahman