23 March 2016, Sweetcrude, Abuja – Nigeria would be signing the United Nations Agreement of ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’, President Muhammadu Buhari has assured.
The president recently described as unacceptable statistics showing Nigeria to be responsible for 23 billion cubic metres of the 40 billion cubic metres of gas flared annually in Africa, declaring his resolve to partner with the legislature to ensure the signing of the UN agreement.
“In Nigeria, gas flaring amounts to about 23 billion cubic meters per annum in over 100 flare sites, constituting over 13 per cent of global gas flaring.
“Nigeria is a member of the World Bank Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GCFR) Partnership and with the support of our legislature, we will sign the United Nations Agreement of Zero Routine Flaring by 2030, although our national target is 2020,” President Buhari told delegates at the recent 6th African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition, CAPE VI, in Abuja.
Disclosing that his government panned to achieve reduction of gas flaring through Joint Venture, JV, contracts that will expand infrastructure and deploy Liquefied Natural Gas, LNG for domestic and industrial uses, pointing out that Nigeria currently has the 7th largest gas deposit in the world.
He added that the use of gas in Africa’s future energy mix has become imperative, and that if Africa must meet her future energy needs, the issue of the development of a robust gas infrastructure must be jointly addressed.
But, he stressed that in processing Africa’s hydrocarbon resource, environmental issues must be accorded huge priority.
He explained that “globally, over 150 billion cubic metres of associated gas is flared annually. “Of this figure, Africa flares an estimated 40 billion cubic metres annually,” he said.