The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation is launching a coordinated effort to end gas flaring in the country’s oilfields within two years. Currently, Nigeria holds the No. 7 spot for the most gas flaring in the world, according to the World Bank Group.
Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, made the pledge this week at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston, adding that Nigeria has already reduced its flared gas from 25 percent to 10 percent. The commitment to end gas flaring comes as Nigeria has doubled down on its efforts to monetize gas resources, and use gas for a variety of downstream initiatives, including industrialization and gas-to-power schemes.
The country is using a three-pronged approach to end flaring, attacking the potential for new flares and currently flaring at the same time. First, the government will not approve Field Development Plans without a gas utilization strategy in place. The country will also aggressively enforce the flare penalty through the 2016 Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme and use the gas masterplan for interventions.