NGFCP ups gas commercialization speed to end yearly loss of N302bn

The Program Manager, Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialization Programme (NGFCP), Mr. Justice Derefaka has given fresh assurance that efforts are in high speed to fast track commercialization of flared gases in Nigeria to end the yearly loss of over N302bn in the economy.

He said in compliance with the approved Programme implementation timeline following the closure of submission of Statements of Qualification’s (SOQ) on the Friday, 22nd March, 2019, the SOQ opening ceremony will be carried out by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu on Thursday, 11th April 2019 at the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) Complex, 2 Memorial Close, Central Business District, Abuja.

However, ahead of the ceremony, a 2-day training for the Proposal Evaluation Committee (PEC) and the Independent Observer Group (IOG) members on the NGFCP background and SOQ evaluation facilitated by Messrs Gas Strategies under the US Power Africa Assistance Programme will be live from Tuesday 2nd – Wednesday 3rd April, 2019 from 8:00am – 5:00pm daily.

Derefaka disclosed that an International Press Conference on the “Journey So Far & Next Line of Action for the NGFCP” and SOQ opening ceremony by the Minister on Thursday, 11th April 2019 at 11am and this will be followed by the commencement of the SOQ Evaluation and Qualification process scheduled to start from Monday 15th April 2019 – Friday 24th May 2019 from 8:00am – 5:00pm daily at the PTDF towers, Abuja.

It would be recall that several previous efforts of the government and battles including increasing penalties on International Oil Companies (IOCs) to end gas flaring have been failing to yield good results, but experts say the latest move under the office of the NGFCP has all it takes to end the crisis.

Otherwise, gas flaring has continued to take its toll on the Nigerian economy, the environment and the lives of the people of oil-producing communities, as the country lost $987.175 million, about N302.076 billion in 2018, to the continuous flaring by oil and gas firms operating in the petroleum industry.

According to data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s (NNPC) Monthly Financial and Operation Report for December 2018, this, however, represented a 1.93 per cent decline compared to the $1.007 billion, about $308.01 billion lost by the country to gas flaring in 2017.

Specifically, the report stated that the oil and gas firms flared 282.05 billion standard cubic feet, scf, of gas in 2018, compared to 287.59 billion SCF flared in 2017.

Using an average exchange rate of N306 and average natural gas price of $3.50 per 1,000 scf of gas, 282.05 billion scf of gas flared translated to a loss of N302.076 billion, an equivalent of $987.175 million.

The volume of gas flared accounted for 9.94 per cent of the total gas production of 2.836 trillion scf recorded in the country in 2018.