Nigeria’s Gas Flare Falls By 0.33% In Q1 2021

Gas flare in Nigeria’s oil fields fell by 0.33 per cent to 45.33 billion cubic feet BCF, in the first quarter of 2021 compared to 45.48BCF of gas flared in the fourth quarter of last year, according to the latest data from the oil and gas industry.

Data also showed that on a year-on-year basis, gas flare dropped by 21.75 per cent in the first quarter of 2021 from the 57.93BCF recorded in the first quarter of 2020.

Gas flaring is the controlled combustion of associated gas, a large volume of which make up Nigeria’s gas reserves, generated during various processes including oil and gas recovery, petrochemical process, and landfill gas extraction, into open-air. Oil-producing nations almost certainly flare some gas, and Nigeria remains a global hotspot.

Data in a monthly report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation released in February 2021, showed that in 24 months, a total of 430.97BCF of gas have been flared. This is equivalent to 1,720 Giga Watts of power lost in two years, according to power generation expert, Dr Stephen Ogaji of the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited.

Gas Commercialization In Nigeria

Back in 2016, the Federal Government of Nigeria in a bid to minimize gas flaring, launched the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP).

The NGFCP was designed to implement government policies on gas flare elimination, majorly through technical and commercial sustainable gas utilization projects with third-party investors.