The Logbaba Gas Plant which was inaugurated on November 15, 2013 by President Paul Biya, the first-ever trial onshore gas production in Cameroon is currently feeding about 28 industries in Douala with clean energy for diverse industrial uses.

Speaking to members of the Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation in a visit to the site on Thursday April 23, officials of the Logbaba natural gas field in the Ndogpassi neigbourhood, Douala III Subdivision, Wouri Division of the Littoral Region said the plant is waxing very strong.

According to Divine Diboto Mofa, Production Manager of Gaz Du Cameroun, since July 2012 that industries for the first time in Cameroon operated their burners with natural gas, production has increased likewise the number of customers.

Start off production was in the neigbourhood of 2.5 million cubic feet daily and supplied some 18 big companies within and without Douala at inauguration with clean, cost-effective, available and environment-friendly gas.

But today, gas production in the Logbaba plant averages 15-16 million standard cubic feet a day.

Users, Uses of the Natural Gas Some of the industries using the natural gas include Brasseries du Cameroun, Guinness, SCBC Ndokoti and Kumasi, UCB, Eneo Bassa and Logbaba among others for their heating purposes.

Also, the plant provides a stabilized condensate to the Limbe-based National Oil Refinery, SONARA, to increase its productivity and give quantity and quality petroleum products to the country.

According to Divine Diboto Mofa, “gas is used in two applications notably thermal and power applications. Our thermal customers use the natural gas to generate steam to run their different plants while the power customers use gas to fire up their generators and for electricity.”

He said SONARA is referred to as the 29th customer. “SONARA doesn’t use gas; it uses the condensate that is the byproduct of what we produce from the gas plant.

Sometimes the condensate can be mixed with crude oil, I believe, to increase its level. Meanwhile, Eneo uses the gas to generate electricity,” the Production Manager added.

The Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee members were taken through the entire process from when the gas is extracted from two wells, pumped from the bottom of the earth into the circuit of the modern and efficient processing centre, whose facilities are powered with part of the gas produced.

They were also briefed on how the extracted gas is separated from impurities before being piped to the various destinations. Led by Jean Fouman Akame, member of Pipeline Steering and Monitoring Committee and representative of the Presidency of the Republic, the team also visited Chococam to see how the gas is used in the industry.

To date, Chococam, officials said, spends over FCFA 30 million monthly on the gas which they added is efficient for their boilers and helps to reduce waste in course of processing than was the case with fuel oil. Mr Fouman Akame saluted the evolution of the innovation and the push it is giving to the socio-economic life of the nation.

The imposing gas plant was constructed thanks to partnership between the National Hydrocarbons Corporation (NHC) and a British firm, Victoria Oil & Gas, through its subsidiary, Rodeo Development Limited (now Gaz du Cameroun).