en.Wedoany.com Reported - The National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency of Nigeria, in collaboration with the African Centre of Excellence for Carbon Management Technology and Innovation, has officially launched a Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage Initiative platform in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Unveiled last Thursday, NESREA stated that the platform aims to promote industrial decarbonization and establish a circular economy framework for the reuse of carbon resources.
In his keynote address, Professor Innocent Barikor, Director-General of NESREA, stated that the platform will coordinate collaborative deployment among government agencies, industry, universities, technology developers, and investment institutions. Captured carbon can be repurposed in various sectors, including beverage production, cement manufacturing, chemical processing, fuel synthesis, enhanced oil recovery, and agricultural inputs. Professor Barikor noted that this mechanism offers the industrial sector a pathway to emission reduction that does not rely on shutting down production capacity.
The University of Port Harcourt will serve as the platform's academic anchor. Vice-Chancellor Professor Owunari Georgewill stated that the university's Institute of Energy Technology already possesses research capabilities in carbon management and energy transition, enabling it to support the platform's research, development, and talent training functions. Dr. Richard Victor Osu, Coordinator of the African Centre of Excellence for Carbon Management Technology and Innovation, explained that Port Harcourt was selected as a hub due to its existing density of industrial facilities and geological storage potential. The platform's key tasks include technology assessment, incubation of demonstration projects, and designing public-private partnership models.
Juho Lipponen, Coordinator of the Clean Energy Ministerial CCUS Initiative, pledged via remote connection that his organization will provide Nigeria with support in global CCUS policy benchmarking, connecting financing channels, and public science communication. The launch event brought together industry experts from the United States, France, Brazil, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom to share progress on CCUS commercial deployment in their respective countries. Representatives from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, the National Council on Climate Change, and the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency were also in attendance.
The Nigerian government has set climate targets and an energy transition roadmap for 2035, with CCUS included as a priority technology option in the national industrial decarbonization strategy. The platform itself will not operate specific storage projects; its core functions are to lower the barriers to technology adoption, coordinate cross-departmental permitting processes, and standardize carbon accounting methodologies. The Niger Delta region, where Port Harcourt is located, hosts multiple operational natural gas processing plants and refining facilities, forming the first set of potential application scenarios for the platform.
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