NNPC Limited and TotalEnergies have renewed their partnership on methane emissions reduction, extending the deployment of the Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications (AUSEA) technology across NNPC Ltd’s upstream operations for another 24 months.
The extension aims to strengthen efforts to detect, measure, and reduce methane and carbon emissions while supporting NNPC Ltd’s gas flaring reduction obligations and broader decarbonisation targets. The agreement, disclosed by NNPC Limited’s Chief Corporate Communications Officer Andy Odeh, was signed at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, building on an earlier deal struck in 2023 for the adoption of the AUSEA technology.
The renewed partnership is expected to help NNPC Ltd meet its commitments under the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter, its participation in the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, and its ambition to achieve near-zero methane emissions by 2030. The agreement was signed by NNPC Ltd’s Executive Vice President for Upstream, Udy Ntia, and TotalEnergies Country Chair and Managing Director, Matthieu Bouyer.
Ntia expressed satisfaction with the outcomes of the technology’s first deployment phase and called for its expansion across more assets. “Through the AUSEA initiative, we are strengthening our ability to detect, quantify and prioritise methane abatement opportunities using advanced measurement technology,” he said, also advocating for the institutionalisation of progress reporting and highlighting the potential for technology transfer to build local emissions monitoring capacity.
TotalEnergies’ Senior Vice President for Africa, Mike Sangster, commended the long-standing cooperation between the two companies, noting that TotalEnergies was the first oil-producing company in Nigeria to eliminate routine gas flaring across all its assets — a milestone in which AUSEA technology played a significant role. He said the company remains focused on achieving near-zero methane emissions by 2030.
AUSEA is a drone-based emissions monitoring technology jointly developed by TotalEnergies, the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and the University of Reims. The technology enables operators to identify previously unaccounted emission sources, improve emissions reporting, and implement corrective measures, while also estimating flare combustion efficiency to strengthen environmental performance and regulatory compliance.
Source: thesun.ng