Gas Flaring: Senate Laments N217bn Loss

• Gas Flaring: Senate Laments N217bn Loss

The continuous waste of Nigeria’s natural gas remains a concern as the Senate joined numbers of stakeholders calling for an end to gas flaring in Africa’s largest economy.

The red chamber put the total value of gas flared in 2018 at N217 billion, saying the amount could have been used to stimulate growth and develop the economy.

It should be called that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) estimated that the total gas flared by oil and gas companies operating in the country between January and November 2019 was N128 billion.

This, NNPC said was 225.81 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas.

Therefore, Senator Akpan Bassey raised a motion to set up gas flaring prohibition and punishment.

He said, “Available data from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation has shown that in 2018, Nigeria lost over N 217bn in revenue as oil and gas companies flared a total of 244.84bn standard cubic feet of natural gas within the same period.

“With the average price of natural gas put at $2.90 per 1,000 scf as of February 16, 2017, the 244.84 billion scf flared translates to a loss of $710m or N217bn (using the official exchange rate of N305.25/ dollar).”