Oil firms in the country are
expected to stop gas flaring
by the end of this year
according to the Petroleum
Industry Bill, PIB which is
now close to being fanalised.
Nigeria, has long pledged but
failed to end flaring, thus
remaining as the world’s
second biggest burner of gas
associated with crude oil
production after Russia.
“Natural gas shall not be
flared or vented after 31st
December, 2012, in any oil
and gas production operation,
block or field, onshore or
offshore, or gas facility,”
except under exceptional and
temporary circumstances,
says Petroleum Industry Bill
(PIB).
“Any licensee who flares or
vents gas without the
permission of the Minister in
(special) circumstances …
shall be liable to pay a fine
which shall not be less than
the value of gas.”
Nigeria flared some 30
billion standard cubic feet of
gas in January, according to
the latest figures from the
Nigeria National Petroleum
Corporation, NNPC.
That is equivalent to a third
of the annual consumption of
an industrialised country like
the United Kingdom.
Of that, ExxonMobil topped
the list, flaring 9.85 billion
cubic feet out of 38.64
billion produced, while
Chevron flared 8.25 billion
cubic feet out of 19.23
billion.
Leading operator Shell, which
runs Nigeria’s liquefied
natural gas (LNG) plant,
flared 5.44 billion cubic feet,
a relatively small part of the
76.4 billion it produced.
All have been criticised by
environmental groups, but
the oil majors retort that
they would be happy to trap
all of the gas if the
government provided them
with a market for it.