FG lost $850m to gas flare in 2015

There are indications that the Federal Government may have lost $850 million to gas flare in 2015 but reiterated its commitment to end gas flaring by the year 2020.

Speaking at the 10th Annual Sub-Saharan Africa Oil and Gas Conference in Houston, Texas, United States, at the weekend, the Deputy Director and Head upstream, Department God Petroleum Resources (DPR), Mrs Pat Maseli, explained that the development equally led to a loss of 3500 megawatts (MW) of electricity generation and about $400 million carbon credit value.

She also reiterated that the department is committed to end gas flare by the year 2020. On the other hand, she also stated that 55 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe) was lost and 25 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted. Although, she said the country is recording decline, but the scale of gas flaring is still worrisome.

With almost eight billion cubic meters of gas flared annually according to satellite data, Nigeria is the seventh-largest gas flarer in the world. At the same time approximately 75 million Nigerians lack access to electricity.

In recent years, Nigeria has shown significant progress, reducing gas flaring by about two billion cubic meters from 2012 to 2015.

Moreover, Maseli explained that prior to now, there was no gas terms in place, stating that last month, the Department developed policies on gas terms and utilisation which was passed to operators for their input which would be subsequently sent to the National Assembly for its accent.

She explained that part of the strategic theme of Nigeria’s Gas Master Plan was to deliver about 80 per cent generation of existing and ongoing power plants capacity supports nine out of the 11GW current installed power generation fleet.

“The master plan will create regional hub for gas-based industries, fertilizer, petrochemical and methanol. Transform gas sector to value adding sector in a bid to consolidate Nigeria’s position and market share in high value export markets,” she said.

Giving a breakdown of the 2008-2013 Domestic Gas Supply Obligation (DGSO), Maseli said compliance was about 23 per cent, while 2016 DSO was achieved at 38.18 per cent and 40 per cent in 2017.