Nigeria lost at least 94 billion naira to gas flaring between July and August 2016. That is according to a monthly report from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which shows that oil and gas companies flared a total of 87.03 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas within that period.
A breakdown of the figures shows that out of the 215.43 billion standard cubic feet of gas produced in October, a total of 121.63 billion was commercialised.
The gas flare rate in the month was 10.49%, compared with the average flare rate of 9.36% for the period of November 2015 to October 2016.
The Ministry of Petroleum Resources, in its recent draft National Gas Policy described gas flaring as one of the most egregious environmental and energy waste practices in the Nigerian petroleum industry.
The ministry revealed that the government would maximise utilisation of associated gas to be treated for supply to power generation or industry.
“To ensure that flared gas is put to use in markets, the government will take measures to ensure that flare capture and utilisation projects are developed and will work collaboratively with industry, development partners, providers of flare-capture technologies and third-party investors to this end.” (Channels TV)
•Gas flaring in the Niger Delta.
