Nigeria lost N189.4bn to Gas Flaring in 11Months – NNPC
Victoria Ogunrinde
Within a period of 11 Months covering January to November 2020, Nigeria lost about $501.06m to gas flaring, as a total of 178.95 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas was flared by both local and international oil companies.
Based on the N378 per Dollar Central Bank of Nigeria official exchange rate, the $501.06m translates to about N189.4bn.
According to the latest financial and operations report of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, a total of 19.95 billion SCF of gas was flared in January, 18.27 billion in February; 19.71 billion in March; 17.90 billion in April, and 15.07 billion in May.
In the same vein, 14.19 billion SCF was flared in June; 14.15 billion in July; 13.62 billion in August; 14.79 billion in September; 13.98 billion in October, and 17.32 billion in November.
The Report stated, “For the period November 2019 to November 2020, a total of 3,004.06BCF of gas was produced, representing an average daily production of 7,642.69MSCFduring the period.
“Out of this volume, production from Joint Ventures accounted for 67.29 per cent, Production Sharing Contracts accounted for 19.97 per cent, while the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company accounted for 12.74 per cent.”
The 178.95 billion SCF flared in the report, amount to $501.06m, as the price of per 1,000 SCF gas currently average at $2.80,
According to the Report, a total of 137.41 billion SCF of gas was commercialised, consisting of 39.99 billion SCF and 97.42 billion SCF for the domestic and export market respectively.
The report added, “This translates to a total supply of 1.33 billion SCF of gas to the domestic market and 3.25 billion SCF of gas supplied to the export market for the month.
“This implies that 62.55 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialised while the balance of 37.45 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared. Gas flare rate was 7.89 per cent for the month under review translating to 577.39 mmscfd.”
The Report further showed that an average of 750 million SCF was supplied to gas-fired power plants in October, and 789 million in November to generate about 3,358 megawatts of power.