A recent statement attributed to the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum, claims that Nigeria loses $1 billion annually to gas flaring. The flaring of associated gas has been a perennial issue in Nigeria, since oil production began 60 years ago, from the first successful oil well in Oloibiri community of Bayelsa State, in 1956. Nigeria contains the largest natural gas reserves in Africa and produces more oil than any other country in Africa. Gas flaring is the predominant source of the 90 Mt of CO2 per annum produced in Nigeria, making the petroleum sector in Nigeria one of the main sources of greenhouse gas emissions.
Gas-flaring data provided by the U.S. National Aeronautic and Space Administration Agency (NASA) weather satellite, showed that 3.5 percent of the world’s natural-gas supply was wastefully burned, or flared at oil and gas fields in 2012. The United States of America has the most number of flares, but Russia has the largest volume of flared natural gas in the world. Nigeria ranks as the fourth largest gas-flaring country, behind Russia, Iran and Iraq.
The World Bank aims to end routine gas flaring at oil production sites in the world by 2030. Governments, oil companies, and development institutions around the world are encouraged by the World Bank to endorse the “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” Initiative. In a related development, the World Bank, in April 2016 also reported a “fundamental shift”: a refocusing of its financing efforts towards tackling climate change, will be part of its strategy for alleviating poverty. The World Bank (the number one provider of public finance to developing countries) will now spend 28 percent of its investments directly on climate change projects.
From now on, all of the World Bank’s future spending will take account of global warming. At least $16 billion a year from across the World Bank group (which includes other development and finance institutions), will be directed to climate change projects. The World Bank, in 2002, commenced a public-private partnership initiative called Global Gas Flaring Reduction (GGFR). Partners signed up to GGFR included Algeria, Angola, Azerbaijan, Cameroon, Chad, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mexico, Nigeria, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan. GGFR signed up 19 oil and gas companies including BP, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and ExxonMobil. Donor countries to GGFR included the United States of America, the United Kingdom, France, Norway and Canada. The European Union, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries also signed up to GGFR.
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC, 2015), achieved international breakthrough with the Paris Agreement of December 2015. For the Paris Agreement, countries had to submit national plans (for 2020 and beyond) that address the climate change challenge.
As far back as 1969, the Federal Government of Nigeria directed all oil companies operating in Nigeria to end gas flaring within five years, by taking steps to utilize the gas. This directive was ignored and continued gas flaring provoked the Nigerian government to establish the Associated Gas Reinjection Act of 1979 into being.
Historically, natural gas produced during oil production has been burnt off. This associated gas was always regarded as a waste or by-product formed during the extraction of oil from a reservoir. The burning of natural gas in oil production sites was deemed the most efficient solution, as the incentive to invest in expensive gas-capture infrastructure was absent. Gas flaring is still the more acceptable option compared to venting methane, butane or propane (produced during oil production) directly into the atmosphere. Methane is estimated to have 25 times the global warming impact of carbon dioxide. Gas flaring has deleterious effects on local air quality and contributes to global warming, but outright gas venting is more dangerous.
It has been discovered that associated gas flaring, in Nigeria, raises the level of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulates in the atmosphere.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, particulates in the air cause the death of 1.5 million people every year. This annual mortality is more than those occurring due to lack of clean water or malaria disease. In the developing world, there is greater concern: in urban areas, poor health services and high population density make people there particularly vulnerable.
Gas flaring in Nigeria has resulted in 60 years of pollution, mostly preventable. It is an urgent problem. The technology exists, today, to address the issue. Gas-gathering/utilization projects resulting in liquefied natural gas (LNG), is one viable solution. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)/gas-reinjection projects, micro gas-to-liquids (GTL) plants are other options. These projects would turn waste to wealth, while helping to reduce the pollution impacts of gas flaring on ecosystems in Nigeria.
Uyiosa Omoregie
