
A gas flare report by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) has revealed that the Federal Government will impose a N22 billion fine on oil and gas companies that are operating onshore, over gas flaring activities.
The companies flared 24 billion standard cubic feet of gas valued at N40 billion in January and February 2023.
NOSDRA named Shell, Chevron Nigeria, Addax Petroleum, Famfa Oil, Elf Petroleum, Mobil Producing Nigeria, Nigerian Agip Oil Company and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company as some of the companies that will pay gas flaring fines for the period highlighted.
According to the NOSDRA report, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) recorded gas flaring from Oil Mining Leases 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 22, 23, 26, 28, 30 and 39 among others. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Agip Oil Company reported gas flaring from OML 61, and 62, and Chevron Nigeria recorded gas flaring from OML 49, 54, and 95, among others.
Oil and gas companies flared 19.14 billion SCF of gas in January and 14.04 billion SCF of gas in February 2023, contributing 1.3 million tons of carbon dioxide emission, with a power generation potential of 2,500 gigawatts hours.
On the other hand, companies operating offshore flared 25.8 billion SCF of gas valued at $90m; capable of generating 2,600 gigawatts of hours of electricity and had an equivalent of 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide emission.
Offshore companies flared 10.84 billion SCF and 13.09 billion SCF of gas in January and February 2023 respectively.
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NOSDRA said 50.3 billion standard cubic feet of gas was flared, amounting to about N81bn ($176m) lost in the months under review.
The volume of gas flared in January and February 2023 was 11.9 per cent lower than the 57.1 billion SCF of gas flared in the same period in 2022.
NOSDRA also said that the gas flared in total during the period under review was equivalent to carbon dioxide emission of 2.7 million tons and has a power generation potential of 5,000 gigawatts hour of electricity.
In August 2022, NOSDRA noted that the country flared 126 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas in the first half of the year (H1 2022). This resulted in 6.7 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and an equivalent amount of $441.2m lost during fossil fuel production.(nairametrics)