Gas Flaring: Reps to Clampdown on Firms, Recover Debts

The House of Representatives has asked the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) to provide it with ‘specified information’ on companies involved in gas flaring, including the amount flared and penalty cost in the last decade.

The House said NOSDRA should include both local and international oil companies, so that outstanding debts would be fully recovered.

Also, the House urged key and relevant government agencies in the petroleum sector under the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NOSDRA under the Ministry of Environment, and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission under the Ministry of Power to “avoid working in silos and strengthen synergy to produce a practical and unified multi-level governance and policy coherence analysis that will stem gas flaring, protect the environment and boost energy supply.”

These resolutions were sequel to the unanimous adoption of a motion moved by a member of the House, Ahmed Munir, titled ‘Need to address the lingering issue of gas flaring by oil and gas companies’.

Munir noted that Nigeria was blessed with vast oil and natural gas resources but due to inadequate management of resources, most of the natural gas was flared.

The lawmaker cited a NOSDRA which stated that in 2022, Nigeria flared 216.5 billion standard cubic feet of gas in about 11 months despite its commitment in November 2021 to reach net zero by 2060.

He quoted the report to have stated that 12 million tonnes of CO2 were emitted into the atmosphere, thus contributing to global warming, while useful natural gas valued at $0.79bn was burned by the Nigerian oil and gas industry equivalent to the value of $450m, many of which were said not to be collected.

Munir said, “The House is concerned that in 2022, 22,500 gigawatts hours of potential power generation went to waste, equivalent to the annual electricity use of 511 million Nigerian citizens.