The speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, has inaugurated an Ad hoc Committee to investigate the alleged $9.05 billion revenue loss from gas flaring in the last decade in Nigeria.

At the inauguration of the House ad hoc committee on Gas Flaring on Monday, Mr Abbas charged the committee to get the root causes of gas flaring and make recommendations to end the menace.

“The task before this ad hoc committee is a very critical one that lies at the heart of the health of our people and the economic well-being of our nation,” the speaker explained. “You have been charged with the responsibility of investigating, perhaps, one of the most harmful practices in the oil and gas industry in Nigeria.”

He stressed that gas flaring and venting “has been a significant environmental, economic, health and social concern in our country” for many years and that flared gas represents lost revenue that could have been generated through its sale or utilisation. 

“Official records indicate that we lose about 2.5 billion dollars annually to gas flaring,” he said.

According to him, gas flaring represents a tremendous waste of valuable resources.

The committee chair, Babba Munir (APC-Kaduna), said the members represented all Nigerians’ interests. He said that the issue of gas flaring had lingered for decades despite several undertakings by oil companies to stop it.

The committee invited Total/Mobil V Domestic wing, Total/Oando JV, Total Energies, and African Petroleum (AP) Plc., now Ardova PLC is to appear before or on Tuesday at 10:00 a.m.

Others are Azman Oil and Gas Limited, Matrix Oil And Gas Shata Ltd, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), National Council on Climate Change (NCCC) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC).

The Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) said Nigeria lost N891 billion to gas flaring in 18 months. According to data from NOSDRA on August 8, 2022, Nigeria lost N707 billion in 2021 and N184 billion in the first half of 2022, totalling N891 billion.

According to the NOSDRA report, oil and gas companies operating in the country flared a total of 126 billion standard cubic feet, SCF, of gas in the first half of 2022, leading to a loss of $441.2 million (about N183.54 billion) in the six months.

On the other hand, the agency said, in 2021, about 23,862.271 barrels of oil (3,770,238.864 litres/119 tanker trucks) were spilt. Giving a breakdown of the gas flared in the country in the first six months of 2022, it disclosed that while companies operating in the offshore oilfields flared 62.2 billion SCF of gas, companies operating onshore flared 63.9 billion SCF of gas, valued at $223.6 million.

In 2021, there were around 382 publicly available oil spill records. Of the 382 occurrences, 33 of these oil spill sites were not visited by a joint investigation team, and 122 had no estimated quantity of oil spilt provided by the companies involved.

The report said two major oil spills were recorded in 2021, with over 250 barrels spilling into inland waters, or over 2,500 barrels spilling on land, swamp, shoreline and open sea.

Seven medium oil spill incidents were recorded in 2021, with 25 to 250 barrels spilt into inland waters or 250 to 2,500 barrels spilt on land, swamp, shoreline and open sea.

Regarding minor oil spills, about 239 cases were recorded as up to 25 barrels spilt into inland waters or 250 barrels on land, swamp, shoreline and open sea. 

(NAN)