…As Rivers State Community Decries Gas Flaring In Niger Delta
Yemisi Izuora
The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), has revealed that Nigeria lost over 850 million dollars to gas flaring in 2015.
Mrs Pat Maseli, Deputy Director, Head, Upstream, DPR, gave the statistics at the just concluded 10th Annual Sub-Saharan Africa Oil and Gas Conference in Houston, Texas, U.S.
Maseli said that the development led to a loss of 3,500 megawatts of electricity generation and about 400 million dollars carbon credit value emission.
She said, “55 million Barrels of Oil Equivalent (BOE) was lost and 25 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted. “The country is recording decline, but the scale of gas flaring is still worrisome’’.
She said that with almost 8 billion cubic meters of gas flared annually, according to satellite data, Nigeria had the seventh largest gas flaring in the world.
“At the same time, approximately 75 million Nigerians lack access to electricity.
“In recent years, Nigeria has shown significant progress by reducing gas flaring by about 2 billion cubic metres from 2012 to 2015,’’ she was quoted as saying.
Maseli said that prior to now, there were no gas terms in place, but the department had recently developed policies on gas terms and utilisation.
Meanwhile, stakeholders in Okrika Local Government Area of Rivers State, have called for the stoppage of gas flaring in the country.
A resolution at the end of a one – day summit in the area, also welcomed the move by the Federal Government to establish modula refineries in the Niger Delta.
The stakeholders who also condemned the activities of illegal oil bunkering in the area, described it as an act of sabotage.
They said Okrika clan possesses both the expertise and resources to participate in the Modula refinery programme of the government and urged for the speedy passage of all necessary laws to make it a reality.
The Chairman, Caretaker Committee of Okrika Local Government Area, Hon. Wilson David Alabere, said the continuous flaring of gas in the country is causing more harm to the Niger Delta environment.
Hon. Alabere said the incidence of black soot cannot be blamed on illegal oil bunkering alone, adding that, gas flaring is a major contributor to the environmental hazard.
Also speaking, the Rivers State Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Omoni Ayotamuno, said illegal oil bunkering is causing more harm to the Okrika nation.
Ayotamuno, who chaired the occasion, decried the abandonment of education for illegal oil bunkering by Okrika youths, stressing that, the sooner the trend is checked, the better for the Okrika nation.
Also speaking, the Chairman, Oil and Gas Surveillance Stakeholders Forum, Elder Sunday Odonebo, said modula refineries are one of the solutions to the Niger Delta crisis.
He said the Okrika nation is fully in support of the Federal Government’s modular refinery programme.
The summit which had its theme as: “End The Sabotage, Save The Future, Say No To Pipeline Vandalisation and Oil Theft: Think Modula Refinery; A New Way to Go” was organised by the Oil and Gas Surveillance Stakeholders Forum in collaboration with the Okrika Local Government Council.