Continental Focus, International Reach

Rwanda Signs Lake Kivu Methane Deal

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Rwanda signed a $400 million deal to produce bottled gas from Lake Kivu. The project by Gasmeth Energy, owned by U.S. and Nigerian businessmen and Rwandans, would take gas from the lake’s floor and bottle it for use as fuel.

The deal with Gasmeth Energy is for seven-years.

Rwanda already has two companies that extract gas from Lake Kivu to power electricity plants.

Clare Akamanzi, chief executive of the Rwanda Development Board, in a Reuters report said that the bottled methane would help cut local reliance on wood and charcoal, the fuels most households and tea factories use in the East African nation of 12 million people.

“We expect to have affordable gas which is environmentally friendly,” she said. “We expect that people can use gas instead of charcoal, the same with industries like tea factories instead of using firewood, they use gas. It’s part of our green agenda.”

Gasmeth Energy said it would finance, build and maintain a gas extraction, processing and compression plant to sell methane domestically and abroad.


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