*Gas flare in Nigeria.
*As Senate panel demands audit reports on NNPC, DPR, NAPIMS, others
Oscarline Onwuemenyi
22 January 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja — The Federal Government has announced plans to end gas flaring in the country in the by 2018.
This was the contention of the Group General Manager, Nigerian Petroleum Investment and Management Services, NAPIMS, Dafe Sajebor and the Managing Director of National Petroleum Development Corporation, NPDC, Sadler Mai-Bornu, when they appeared before a Senate panel investigating the activities of oil and gas agencies in the country.
Both men assured that their organisations were working assiduously to end gas flaring in the country between 2018 and 2020.
Meanwhile, as part of its ongoing investigation into the Petroleum sector of the economy, the Senate Committee on Gas Resources, has mandated the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, and its subsidiaries to submit their detailed audited accounts for the past three years.
The committee blamed the Federal Government agencies for the worsening gas flaring in the country, saying their inability to enforce payment of stipulated penalties on erring International Oil Companies, OICs, was mainly responsible for increased gas flaring.
Apart from the NNPC, its subsidiaries expected to submit the audited accounts are the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company, NPDC, Nigerian Petroleum Investment and Management Service, NAPIMS, Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas, NLNG, among others.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Albert Akpan, who gave the directive, during the committee’s engagement with the agencies in Abuja, said the request was in line with the mandate of the committee in its ongoing investigation into the activities of the agencies.
Akpan, who picked holes in the activities of the agencies since their establishments, said the accounts must be submitted as soon as possible to enable his committee meet the deadline given by the Senate.
He noted that the audited documents would afford the committee opportunity to know the joint venture funding and cost determination of the oil companies and government agencies. “From here, we will know also who approves projects and how are the projects monitored and the mechanism for cost recovery and monitoring of the projects.
“Give us the submission of the gas that you have flared and each of your operators involved. The quality of gas flared, the operators, the terminal and the related penalties paid,” he said.
He frowned at the 2016 budget of the Department of Petroleum Resources, saying the N3 billion only earmarked by the agency for penalties for gas flaring, was grossly inadequate.
