Tuesday, February 18, 2020 / 11:25 AM / By CSL
Research / Header
Image Credit: Generon
According to satellite data from Nigeria's environment ministry, oil
companies in the country flare over 313.0mscf of gas annually which ultimately
results into 16.5m tonnes of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere. In a similar
fashion, World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFRP) ranks
Nigeria as the 6th largest gas flaring country globally. Gas flaring in Nigeria
has been a perturbing problem over the past years since the commercial
exploration of crude oil started in the country. This comes despite the
official banning of gas flaring in Nigeria in 1984. We recall that Nigeria set
a deadline of 2020 to eliminate routine gas flaring while President Muhammadu
Buhari commissioned the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Program (NGFCP).
Yesterday, Local media sources reported that the Federal
Government has shortlisted 200 investors to bid for gas flare sites after
evaluating statement of qualification submitted by the interested companies.
This was announced by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) even as it
stated only 45 gas flare sites are up for auction as part of the first phase of
the NGFCP. According to the Director for DPR, Mr Sarki Auwalu, the department
received expression of interest from 800 investors but decided to trim the list
down to 200 on the basis of capacity and quality.
We recall the Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) was established
in 1989 to harness Nigeria's vast natural gas resources to produce Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) and Natural Gas Liquids (NGLs). The company is on the
arrowhead of Nigeria's efforts at curbing gas flaring. According to the
company, it has helped reduce Nigeria's flaring profile from 65.0% to below
25.0%. However, Nigeria remains among the top gas flaring countries in the
world.
Gas flaring has been a severe menace particularly in the
Niger Delta, causing several economic and health losses for its citizens. On
economic losses, the Federal government continues to lose potential revenue
from gas flared. According to London-based "On Our Radar", Nigeria lost
potential income estimated at US$770.0m (N281.1bn) to gas flaring in 2016. The
agriculture ecosystem of the Niger Delta has been severely damaged. Due to
increased soil temperature, crop yield has also been affected with many lands
now barren. Furthermore, water bodies are now black while rainfall in the area
is also black destroying many homes. The black water bodies have destroyed
fishing potentials while burning bushes and lands have forced animals to desert
the forests in the area.
The health of citizens residing in communities prone to
gas flaring has also been severely impacted. Gas flaring has been linked to
cancer and lung damage as well as neurological and reproductive problems which
have become prominent among pregnant women and newborns in the region.
Furthermore, the rising spate of gas flaring which has worsened the economic
situation of affected villages has led to development of insurgency and
security instability. Popular terror groups like Movement for Emancipation of
the Niger Delta (MEND) and Niger Delta Avengers (NDA) destroy oil
infrastructure and kidnap expatriates working on oil installations.
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