Government methane gas deal postponed till end of January

BY GEORGE KAGAME


A deal between government and an American gas extraction firm Contour Global that was due to be signed today has been extended to the end of January on the request of the firm.


The Energy Coordinator in the Ministry of Infrastructure Yusuf Uwamohoro said there were a couple of issues that both parties are working upon before the final deal is signed "at the end of this month." Contour Global is contracted to extract methane gas from Lake Kivu and last month the firm in partnership with government began supplying Gisenyi town with gas, their pilot project producing 2 megawatts of electricity from gas. Contour Global has targeted output of gas up to 100 megawatts from L.Kivu, the deal that was due to be signed today is part of negotiations to achieve that goal.

Uwamahoro said that government and the Americans were working on 'one or two issues and we have shifted the deal to be signed at the end of this month." He added that Contour Global was signing two agreements, one-a gas concession with government allowing for the extraction and another-power purchase agreement with Electrogaz, the national electricity supplying corporation. When extraction begins, Electrogaz will buy methane gas from Contour Global and sell it on the open market at a proposed tariff of 6 cents (of US dollars) per kilowatt according to the interim Director General of the government’s methane gas project (UPEGAZ), Charles Nyirahuku.

Nyirahuku added that in the future private companies interested in gas extraction on L. Kivu will deal with Rwandan Investment Group and Contour Global the only the two companies with government permission for extraction.
In a recent interview Alex Kabuto the Director General of the Gisenyi based pilot project for gas extraction said that Contour Global was in the process acquiring and installing new machinery and would soon increase output to between 50-100 megawatts. The Minister of Energy and water Albert Butare said that L.Kivu has potential to produce 350 mw which will solve many of national energy shortfalls, official statistics in the Infrastructural Ministry state that currently less than 2 percent of Rwandans have access to electricty.

Methane gas has long been considered as the solution of Rwanda energy requirements, exploration works on the lake began in 1963 by a Belgian company. Today government, the International Finance Corporation with other donors are financing the methane projects.

In a related development Butare has clarified on the position of the soon to be launched Rwanda Engineers Registry Board. The minister was on Sunday responding to recent media reports that his ministry was due to start registering engineers of all domains across the country. Butare said that the Institution of Engineers of Rwanda-IER was already registered and is soon to be launched, "the essential job of IER is to strengthen professionalism in the field and will act as a forum for senior and young engineers for exchange of ideas, knowledge and experience within a particular engineering profession."

An official document from Mininfra sates that the ministry is in the process of establishing the Engineers Registration Board which, once approved by cabinet and enacted into law shall introduce procedures through which engineering professionals will be allowed to practice. This is to avoid a situation where many people after attaining academic qualification just go straight to practice and identify themselves with the tile of "Engineer so and so" yet for one to be called an Engineer they must be approved by an official body that certifies one to practice.

The board shall ensure that all practicing engineers adhere to the nous and standards of the profession and Mininfra is working along with the Rwanda Bureau of Standards to put in place the regulations that shall govern engineering works starting with the construction industry. The document further that regulation of engineers like other sectors in the utility industry remains the duty of Rwanda Utilities and Regulation Authority with the ministry providing policy guidelines.