…Says verification of 700 firms for commercialisation scheme ongoing
OpeOluwani Akintayo
06 March 2019, Sweetcrude, Lagos — Nigeria flares about 22 million tonnes of natural gas worth N153 billion yearly, according to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.
A statement by the Programme Manager, Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme in the Ministry of Petroleum, obtained by SweetcrudeReports, said the country loses N153 billion yearly from the 22 million tonnes of gas flared by oil and producing companies in the country.
But, it said over 700 companies were currently being verified for participation in the government’s proposed gas commercialisation programme targeted for 2020.
Nigeria flares the gas due to its inability to effectively capture and commercialise flared gas. About $3.5 billion worth of investment is required to achieve the flared gas commercialisation targets of 2020.
Mr. Justice Derefaka, the Programme Manager, Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, explained in the statement that the volume of gas flared in the country could be put to better use, if harnessed, to power two-to-three liquefied natural gas, LNG, trains and generate about 3,000 megawatts of electricity.
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It is also estimated that if the flared gas is properly exploited, it had the potential to create 300,000 jobs and produce 600,000 metric tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas, LPG – popularly known as cooking gas – per year.
On the Federal Government’s gas commercialisation programme, Derefaka said over 700 companies have already registered on the NGFCP portal, to bid for the 178 gas flare sites across the country, adding that the process, billed to attract over $3.5 billion, is already at the verification stage.
The programme is being executed to meet the government’s gas flare commercialisation target of 2020, he said.
“For the 22 million tonnes of carbon dioxide we (Nigeria) emit, we lose appropriately $500million emission credit value,” he added.
Nigeria has made progress, from its previous position as second most gas flaring nation in the world after Russia, to its current seventh position, but environmental experts say it still flares 9 cubic metres of gas per barrel of crude oil produced, a figure that is double the globally accepted standard of 4.5 cubic metres per barrel of oil produced.
According to a documentary by BudgIT, Nigeria’s gas flaring is a threat to nearly 30 million lives in the Niger Delta. The almost 3 minutes video clip titled “Gas Flaring in Nigeria: Stop the Soot”, said the nearly 30 million lives face health hazards due to the menace.
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Nigeria has proven natural gas reserves of 5.47 trillion cubic meters as at 2016 and flares around 14.33 percent of gas produced.
“If it (gas flaring) continues at this rate, over 784.59 billion cubic meters of Nigerian gas will be flared into the Niger Delta communities and offshore regions in the next 75 years,” the documentary stated.
