The volume of gas that is wasted by oil companies in Nigeria is enough to generate about 3,000 megawatts of electricity, the Federal Government has said. It also stated that the amount of gas flared by oil companies operating in Nigeria was sufficient to power two or three liquefied natural gas trains if harnessed.
Senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, however, told our correspondent on Friday that the Federal Government had devised ways to harness and gainfully utilise the huge volume of gas being flared by oil firms.
They explained that the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme was specifically designed to address the massive revenue losses caused by gas flaring in Nigeria, particularly in the Niger Delta region. The Programme Manager, NGFCP, FMPR, Justice Derefaka, stated that about 22 million tonnes of Carbon IV Oxide was flared by oil firms in Nigeria, adding that the worth of the wasted gas was about $500m (N153bn at the official exchange rate of N306.8/dollar).
He said, “For the 22 million tonnes CO2 we emit, we lose approximately $500m emission credit value. If harnessed, we could power two to three LNG trains and if used for power, we could generate about 3,000MW of electricity. “Additionally, the gas could be put to good use and potentially displace other fuels like coal and diesel that generate higher emissions per energy unit.” Derefaka lamented that the country had been burning money that would have been used to generate wealth, create employment and also generate electricity for the people.
The FMPR stated that consistent with Nigeria’s commitments for the reduction of greenhouse gas under the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the NGFCP would reduce Nigeria’s CO2 emissions by approximately 13 million tonnes per year, which could be monetised under an emission credit or carbon sale programme.
It stated that Nigeria submitted its first nationally determined contributions, which included gas flaring reduction as a mitigation measure to combat global warming while committing to a national flare-out target by the year 2020. On the call for interested bidders to bid for gas flare sites, the ministry noted that over 700 organisations had registered on the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme portal to jostle for about 178 gas flare sites located in the Niger Delta region.
“We designed the NGFCP as an important climate change action plan for the nation. And just so you know, the NGFCP is the first market-driven programme undertaken on this scale globally, which means bidders will have the flexibility of choosing which flare sites to bid for, the gas price, and the end market or gas product, as well as the technology to be used,” Derefaka said.
In December 2017, the Federal Government announced that it had commenced the verification of gas flare sites across the country and that it had discovered that there were at least 178 sites where gas was flared, as opposed to 140 sites listed in the past. Derefaka had explained that the verification exercise was conducted in conjunction with the World Bank, United States Agency for International Development and the Canadian government.
He noted that the essence of embarking on the verification exercise was to address issues of bankability and the need to attract investors and financiers to the gas flare commercialisation initiative. According to him, the overall idea was to ensure that the country had a credible, measurable, attainable data that were bankable so that it would be an investment-grade data for investors and lenders to put their money.
The PUNCH also reported exclusively on Wednesday that the ongoing gas flare commercialisation programme of the Federal Government would attract $3.5bn worth of investments to Nigeria. “About $3.5bn worth of inward investments are coming into the country to achieve the gas flare commercialisation targets by 2020. The benefits are huge, ranging from an overall investment of around $3 to $3.5bn; a potential annual revenue and Gross Domestic Product impact of around $1bn,” Derefaka said. Punch
Pix: major oil firms in Nigeria
