01 September 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja — Nigeria lost $44.4 million, about N11.1 billion, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, and other oil companies flared 14.8 billion Standard Cubic Feet (SCF) of gas in the June 2016.
Data obtained from the NNPC’s Monthly Financial and Operations Report for June 2016, stated that the amount of gas flared in June represented a decline of 6.33 percent, compared to 15.8 billion SCF of gas flared in May.
The Nigerian Gas Company put the average gas price at $3 per 1,000 SCF, meaning that the flaring of 14.8 billion SCF translates to a loss of $44.4 million. While using an average exchange rate of N250 to a dollar, the amount translates to N11.1 billion.
The NNPC report stated that a total of 216.60 billion SCF of natural gas were produced in the month of June 2016, translating to an average daily production of 7.22 billion SCF per day.
It also noted that for the period July 2015 to June 2016, a total of 2.823 trillion SCF of gas was produced representing an average daily production of 7.714 billion SCF per day during the period.
The report explained that production from Joint Ventures (JVs), Production Sharing Contracts (PSC) and NPDC contributed about 69.98 percent, 21.84 percent, and 8.18 percent respectively to the total national gas production.
In addition, it added that out of the total gas produced in June, a total of 115.88 billion SCF of gas was commercialised, comprising of 16.50 billion SCF and 99.38 billion SCF for the domestic and export market respectively.
This, the report noted, translates to an average daily supply of 550.10 million SCF per day of gas to the domestic market and 3.31 billion SCF per day of gas supplied to the export market.
“This implies that 54.51 percent of the total gas produced was commercialized while the balance of 45.49 per cent was either re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.
“Gas flare rate was 6.98 percent for the month of June 2016, that 494.70 million SCF per day compared with average gas flare rate of 8.62 per cent, that is, 660.89 million SCF per day for the period July 2015 to June 2016,” the NNPC said.
The report further stated that from the 550.10 million SCF per day of gas supplied to the domestic market in June 2016, about 326.80 million SCF per day of gas representing 59.41 per day was used for gas-fired power plants while the balance of 223.30 million SCF per day or 40.59 percent was supplied to other industries.
“Similarly, for the period of July 2015 to June 2016 an average of 991.72 million SCF per day of gas was supplied to the domestic market comprising of an average of 650.39 million SCF per day or 65.58 percent of gas supply to the power plants and 341.32 million SCF per day or 34.42 percent, as gas supply to industries.
