…flares 100% gas output, earns zero revenue in Sept
The Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, and its partners have been adjudged the worst offenders in gas flaring in September.
This is inspite of the efforts of the Federal Government to achieve zero emissions by the year 2060 and the opportunities available for carbon credit.
The declaration of the year 2020 -2030 by the Federal Government as a decade of gas was intended for stakeholders in the oil and gas to step up their activities as regards utilization and also monitise the nation’s gas resource, since the global attention now is going towards clean energy.
According to a report sighted by Business Standards, the company and its Joint Venture partners, Seplat Petroleum Development Company and NPDC-Chevron Nigeria flared 100 percent of their entire gas output of 106 million standard cubic feet of gas and 7 million standard cubic feet of gas, respectively.
Also, guilty of high gas flaring are Newcross Exploration and Production Ltd and Belema Oil flared about 96 percent and 75 percent of their 112 million standard cubic
About 8 billion SCF of gas was flared in the month under review, representing 5 percent of the total gas output for the month, compared with 10 billion SCF of gas flared in the month of August, according to the report.
This flagrant violation of the gas flaring rule is coming at a time the country cash stripped and would money from every source to augment its finances. The drop in crude oil production also resulted in a drop in oil revenue on account of a series of challenges such as oil theft, and lack of investment, which has made the government to be starved of money.
There was no explanation as to why the companies flared that volume of gas for that month.
The American oil giant ExxonMobil came top on the list as the highest gas producer in the month under review with a total output of about 25 BSCF of gas, out of which it utilised 23 BSCF of gas and flared 1.6 BSCF of gas.
Shell Nigeria followed with a total gas output of about 25 BSCF of gas, utilising 24 BSCF and flaring 0.5 BSCF; Chevron Nigeria produced about 24 BSCF of gas, out of which it utilised 23 BSCF and flared 0.2 BSCF of gas and Total Energies Nigeria produced about 23 BSCF of gas, out of which it utilised 22 BSCF and flared 0.6 BSCF of gas.
The breakdown of output for September translates to a daily average of about 4.9 BSCF compared with 4.8 BSCF recorded in the previous month.
About 22 BSCF of gas was allocated for domestic supply through the Nigerian Gas Company and others, while about 50 BSCF of gas was re-injected and utilised for gas lift make-up.
Further analysis of the report showed that the total gas output by oil and gas companies operating in the country appreciated by about 2 percent to 149 BSCF in the month under review from 146 BSCF recorded in August 2022.
A total of 106 BSCF of the output was associated gas, while about 43 BSCF was non-associated gas. While 140 BSCF of gas, representing 94 percent of the total gas output, was utilised in the month under review, compared with 136 BSCF, representing 93 percent of total gas, produced in August 2022.
Under the total gas utilised segment for September, the NNPCL stated that 9 BSCF of gas was used for fuel gas; 48 BSCF was utilised by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas; 8 BSCF was used by the Escravos Gas to Liquid project, and 2 BSCF was used for Natural Gas Liquids/Liquefied Petroleum Gas.