Baker Hughes and Petrosafe partner to reduce flaring emissions in Egypt

Baker Hughes and Petrosafe, a subsidiary of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), have agreed on the first deployment of Baker Hughes’ flare.IQ technology in refinery operations in Egypt to help reduce emissions from oil and gas flaring operations, the companies said.

The initial phase of a broader flare recovery partnership will be implemented at the APC Refinery in Alexandria, Baker Hughes said.

The Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources (MoPMR) aims to reduce emissions and improve the efficiency of oil and gas operations as part of its ambitious aim to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from this sector.

As one of the most harmful forms of emissions that’s 86 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period, methane is produced by the incomplete combustion of flared gas. By using flare.IQ technology from Panametrics, a Baker Hughes business, EGPC will further digitalise its emissions management infrastructure and pull critical information about its flare systems, substantially reducing emissions by ensuring a higher-efficiency flare combustion rate, the company said.

The contract aimed at cleaner energy comes at a significant moment as Egypt prepares to host the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 27) in November and contributes to the Global Methane Pledge.

“Our flare recovery partnership with Baker Hughes is an important step in Egypt’s Petroleum Sector Modernization program as we start implementing MoPMR projects included within Egypt’s Climate Change Strategy 2050, as announced in May 2022,” said Tarek El Molla, Egypt’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

“Phase one of the partnership, the deployment of flare.IQ, will support our flare recovery ambitions, which is one of our Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), in support of the Paris Agreement objectives. We look forward to seeing the impact of flare.IQ help improve the quality of life for residents near the Alexandria plant and anticipate extending the scope to include other refineries across Egypt,” he added.

The contract follows the memorandum of understanding that was signed by the two companies in February 2022. The partnership between Baker Hughes and EGPC aims to establish and drive a flare recovery initiative to support emissions recovery and reduction across Egypt’s upstream and downstream oil and gas operations.

“Better understanding and managing emissions is central to the oil and gas industry’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Our partnership with MoPMR demonstrates how Baker Hughes continues to collaborate with our customers in taking positive action in emissions management,” Rami Qasem, executive vice president of Digital Solutions at Baker Hughes, said in a statement.

“This partnership with MoPMR supports its ambitious low-carbon strategy, and further underlines Egypt’s commitment to be at the forefront of tackling emissions in the oil and gas sector, as we approach COP27,” he added.