Job Opportunities for Natural Gas Power Expert at Nexant

Nexant is a globally recognized software, consulting and services leader that provides innovative solutions to utilities, energy enterprises, chemical companies and government entities worldwide. 
Founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Francisco, Nexant and its 650+ employees work from 32 global offices providing deep technical expertise and regional knowledge to improve customer engagement, boost operational efficiency, reduce costs and achieve superior business results.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Natural Gas Power Expert – Power Africa Transactions & Reforms Program (PATRP)

Location: Abuja, Nigeria

About the Job

• Nexant, Inc. – a US Government services contractor – seeks a Natural Gas Power Expert to serve as a long-term resident in Abuja, Nigeria for the Power Africa Transactions & Reforms Program (PATRP), the contractor enabling partner for the US Government’s Power Africa Initiative in sub-Saharan Africa.
• The country needs to formulate a comprehensive framework to create a realistic, credible, and clearly defined long-term strategy to recover and monetize flared gas and use it to supply gas-fired power plants to generate electricity for the country. But the lack of gas transmission infrastructure causes many of the power plants to operate at low utilization rates, so the Government’s generation expansion plan is challenging due to lack of the ability to transmit gas to power plants.
• The country’s gas and power regulatory authorities also need capacity building assistance to improve their organizational structures, policies, and procedures–including their oversight and regulatory capacity.
• This $64 million, 5 year technical assistance project is designed to bring more electricity to sub-Saharan African via a deal / transaction-centered approach.
• The Power Africa initiative seeks to shift the typical international development paradigm to a transaction-centered approach that provides host country governments in sub-Saharan Africa, the private sector, and international donor agencies with a focal point to galvanize collaboration around priority electricity generation, transmission, and distribution transactions – with a focus on those that involve private sector participation and finance-helping to bring them to financial close and online in an expedited time frame.
• Nigeria is a priority country for Power Africa. Natural gas supplies the fuel for most of Nigeria’s power generating capacity and thus is a very important part of that country’s energy mix. While seemingly abundant supplies of natural gas exist in the country, its lack of gas gathering, processing, and transportation infrastructure has severely hampered the county’s ability to capitalize on this important power generation fuel source. Second only to Russia, Nigeria ranks next for unnecessarily flaring associated gas, a byproduct of the country’s significant oil production.

Duties and Responsibilities
Gas Flaring:

• Examination of Alternatives for Reducing Gas Flaring & Increasing Associated Gas Utilization:
  • Examine other worldwide examples of successful gas flaring reduction and utilization programs in Russia, Oman, etc.
  • Evaluate techniques to reduce gas flaring such as the imposition of penalties, revocation of operating licenses, liberalization of associated gas prices, granting preferred access to the electricity grid for power generated from gas flaring projects, encouragement for establishing joint ventures among firms to share infrastructure, policy incentives to promote new technologies and provide tax relief for new associated gas projects, and joint implementation projects for flare gas use under the Kyoto Protocol to provide financial incentives for companies to invest in associated gas utilization projects.
  • Examine the technical and economic feasibility of current gas flaring capture and utilization projects in Nigeria (Shell, etc.) and how expertise can be applied to other gas flaring and utilization projects
  • Recommend a comprehensive policy, legal, and regulatory framework-through a combination of punitive sanctions and incentives to reduce gas flaring and profitably utilize associated gas -to address associated gas flaring levels and its commercial utilization
• Locations & Uses of Flared Gas:
  • Examine and rank primary locations of flared gas activities and their suitability for end uses (quality of gas, current infrastructure, likely end uses)
  • Recommend improvements to and costs of additional gas infrastructure that would bring the gas on-shore (if applicable), clean and process it, and distribute it to end-users
  • Examine local markets and uses for the gas, including the prices that can be obtained
  • Identify which power plants could use the gas for the generation of electricity (methane), as well as other uses such as LPG, CPG, NGLs, fertilizers, etc.
• Provide Transaction Support to Attract Private Investment:
  • Conceptualize and structure gas capture, processing, transportation, and end use projects
  • Assist in raising finance from international strategic and financial investors for these projects
  • Advise on the bank-ability of the schemes proposed by local and international investors, including investors prequalification requirements and the assessment and valuation of proposals
• Develop & Administer Capacity Building Programs:
  • Develop and administer capacity building programs – transfer of technical, financial, and commercial expertise – to plan and implement activities associated with reducing gas flaring and efficiently managing the associated gas sector via seminars, workshops, and tutoring

Tenders:

• Assist the government conduct fair and open bidding processes, including determining lease sale terms and conditions and proper evaluation of bid adequacy
• Develop policies to promote fair and open competition in awarding of licenses and transparency in contracting

Agreements:

• Analyze contracts and contracting methods
• Advise on international best practices with respect to gas contracts and Production Sharing Agreements (PSAs)
• Provide advice on supervising, monitoring, and auditing of operator performance under signed contracts with the host government

Gas Policy, Laws, Contracting, & Regulations:

• Assist in developing national gas policies and laws
• Advise on international best practices with respect to legal, policy, and regulatory regimes governing the gas sector
• Provide advisory assistance on offshore unitization of resources and trans-boundary resource management
• Provide assistance in regulatory management and oversight
• Provide technical and policy advice regarding the use of gas resources domestically versus their value as export commodities

Gas Resources:

• Establish and/or manage a system for data management and analysis
• Conduct geologic modelling and geophysical data interpretation
• Conduct appraisals of oil & gas property (prospect and block evaluation)
• Provide advice and guidance on gas reservoir management
• Advise on the management of national gas resources using databases, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), decision tools, and data analysis
• Provide assistance with reserve and resource estimation

Health, Safety, & Environment (HSE):

• Provide environmental management expertise and built capacity in host-country institutions to effectively deal with environmental issues
• Develop, implement, and monitor environmental regulations
• Develop a process to conduct safety inspections
• Provide advice on sector oversight, including the preparation of remediation, restoration, and abandonment plans
• Assist and provide advice on environmental analyses, which included the following:
  • Environmental and social impact assessments,
  • Onshore and offshore environmental analysis,
  • Consultations with local stakeholders,
  • Air and noise monitoring
  • Assessment of best environmental management practices, and
  • Mitigation and monitoring plans
• Advise on Equator Principles compliance audits to assess environmental and social risk in project finance transactions.

Capacity Building:

• Build technical capacity of staff in oil & gas policy development, sector management, and oversight, including:
  • Sector research and analysis,
  • Issue identification,
  • Policy formulation and analysis,
  • Monitoring and evaluating, and
  • Impact assessments
• Organize roundtables, workshops, site visits, and other forms of training for technical and policy staff to support engagement objectives, and established information and professional networks and partnerships among these parties
• Identify capacity constraints and staff needs of relevant units
• Promote effective public participation and stakeholder engagement
• Strengthen the governance capacity and capability of key government organizations to plan, integrate, and to sustainably provide services.
• Provide recommendations to improve government access to individuals with technical skills in the sector, and advised government staff to improve access to training and educational opportunities.

Remuneration and Benefits (U.S.)
Nexant offers competitive salaries based on candidate’s qualifications. Nexant also offers three weeks paid vacation per year, eleven paid holidays per year, a 401(k) plan with employee matching funds and an overall comprehensive benefits package.

How to Apply

Click here to apply