Fed Govt To Auction Gas Flare Sites Via Bids

The Federal Government on Sunday announced that it was carrying out a study to identify suitable gas flare sites for auction and that it would issue flare sites to technically competent companies through a competitive bid process.

It said a 12-member Flare Gas Commercialisation Programme Team had been with the responsibility of driving the process as well as coordinate the Flare Gas Commercialisation Programme towards its initiative to end gas flaring by 2025.

The Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, who disclosed this in statement he signed, stated that monetising gas resources was a positive step towards guaranteeing energy security, especially in the global energy transition period.

He noted that as a nation, Nigeria must ensure that it harnessed all available gas resources for value creation.

“This process has become crucial in view of the policy direction of the Federal Government to ensure all gas resources are developed for national development,” Komolafe stated.

He added, “The commission is currently carrying out a study in conjunction with external technical resources to identify suitable flare sites for the auction process.

“It was for the purpose that the committee of staff of the commission was inaugurated to drive the process and coordinate implementation of the programme.”

Gas flaring in the oil and gas industry has continued to be a menace which needs to be eradicated because of its adverse effect on the environment and the people.

The wasteful disposal of natural gas is not only fraught with serious health/environmental consequences but is also a major resource waste and value erosion to the country.

Against this backdrop, the Federal Government declared the period 2021 to 2030 as the “Decade of Gas”, a period within which the nation intends to shift focus from oil-centred exploitation to gas-driven industrial development.

Although the World Bank has set 2030 as the target year to end gas flaring, Nigeria has set a country deadline for 2025.

In 2016, the Federal Government initiated the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme to end flaring of natural gas by oil companies operating in the country.