Nigeria loses N153 billion to gas flaring annually

Nigeria loses about N153 billion annually from natural gas flaring, as the country flares about 22 million tonnes of natural gas, according to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

Nigeria continues to flare the gas due to its inability to effectively capture and commercialise flared gas.

According to a statement by the Programme Manager, Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme in the Ministry of Petroleum, about $3.5 billion worth of investment is required to achieve the flared gas commercialisation targets of 2020.

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.

Derefaka also said over 700 companies were currently being verified for participation in the government’s proposed gas commercialisation programme targeted for 2020. He also said the companies have already registered on the NGFCP portal to bid for the 178 gas flare sites across the country.

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 $500 million 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.

BudgIT, a civic organization in a report said that Nigeria’s gas flaring is a threat to nearly 30 million lives in the Niger Delta.