The construction of a multi-million plant to produce compressed natural gas for cooking, vehicles and industries from Lake Kivu methane gas is expected to be complete within two years in Karongi district, Prime Minister Edouard Ngirente has announced.He was speaking on August 18, 2022 while officiating a ground-breaking ceremony for the compressed natural gas production facilities at Lake Kivu.GasMeth Energy LTD is set to undertake the project.Ngirente said that methane gas provides an energy resource, valued at billions of dollars for the Lake Kivu region.“In order to get the value stored in the methane gas, the Government of Rwanda welcomed the Gasmeth project aimed at extracting natural gas directly from Lake Kivu, processing and distributing it throughout Rwanda. This key strategic project will create a level of energy independence for Rwanda to reduce the dependency on imported energy sources,” he said.The use of natural gas, he noted, will also contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by releasing less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than other fossil fuels, in line with the country’s Green Growth and Climate Resilience Programme. “This new source of energy will help reduce usage of firewood where national dependency level is over 85% despite strong efforts to reduce this. It will also improve the health and safety dangers related to possible gas eruptions,” he said.The use of gas from Lake Kivu, he said, will also replace fuel in vehicles, cooking in schools and other government institutions.“This will address the issue of availability and affordability of gas in Rwanda,” he said.Ngirente pledged more efforts to encourage investment in green projects and private sector participation in the same.“This has included putting in place incentives and encouraging initiatives towards promoting investment in renewable energies,” he said.A million cubic metres of gas to be produced dailyGasmeth CEO Stephen Tierney said that the project is expected to produce 40 MMSCFD (million standard cubic feet per day) which is equivalent to 990,000 cubic metres per day.Of this quantity, between 35 percent and 40 percent will be cooking gas.According to estimates from the Ministry of Infrastructure, the demand for LPG is set to rise to more than 240,000 tonnes by 2024 from 10,000 tonnes in 2017.Tierney said the gas could also be exported to other countries.Gasmeth Energy Ltd was awarded a 25-year Concession Agreement by the Government of Rwanda to extract methane gas from the deep, Methane-rich waters of Lake Kivu in Karongi district, Western Province.The project aims to provide a long-term, environmentally friendly, affordable source of domestically produced gas.The project includes producing the gas (held in solution in the water), processing it on barges tethered in the lake, piping it to shore, compressing it, and distributing it as Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) within Rwanda.The CNG will replace other fuels on the market such as; gasoline, diesel fuel, peat, coal, wood and LPG.The gas will be used primarily in Rwanda's transportation, industrial, household, and power generation sectors and, eventually, for export, he said,“We are excited to be moving to the next phase of the project, one step closer to realizing our plans for supply of a cleaner self-sufficient energy source for Rwandans,” he said.This project to create about 1,000 jobs will provide an abundant source of domestically produced gas to transform the Rwandan economy, breaking the dependence on importation of fuels.It will form the basis for attracting all new inward investment and a large step towards a green affordable future, he added.Gasmeth describes itself as a special purpose vehicle that is made up of companies with complementary strengths in the Rwandan energy and petrochemicals sector.
