By Femi Akinola
The environmental watchdog, the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSRDA), has disclosed that despite Nigeria’s energy crisis, and inadequate supply of gas to the domestic market, the nation finds itself grappling with a peculiar irony as gas meant to cushion the effect of adequate power supply to Nigerians is being wasted through flaring.
Natural gas estimated at $205.7 million and capable of generating power that can be use by over four million households was flared in the country in the month of January and February, 2024, NatureNews findings revealed.
Data obtained from the Nigerian gas flare tracker of NOASRDA, shoed the country flared about 58.8 million standard cubic feet (Mscf) in the month of Januar and February this year with a power generation potential of 4.04 thousand megawatts (MW).
Nigeria loses $127.2 million in one month to gas flaring, according to the January gas flare data by NOSDRA.
The agency disclosed via the date released, that oil and gas companies operating in the country flared 36.4 billion Standard Cubic Feet (SCF) of gas valued at N204.4 billion in the month of January 2024, rising by 56.65% compared with January 2023 gas flare volume of 23.2 billion SCF of gas, valued at $81.2 million.
NOSDRA noted that the volume of gas flared in January 2024 emitted 1.9 million tonnes of carbon-dioxide emissions, contributing to global warming.
While the gas flaring continue in the last couple of weeks, many parts of Nigeria were left in blackout, as the electricity grid, controlled from Osogbo, Osun State, collapsed towards evening last Thursday.
Most distribution companies across the country did not hide it from members of the public that their feeders were out, thereby leaving their franchise area across the 36 states in darkness. Last month, the grid collapsed, leaving the entire country in darkness.
An expert in the oil and gas industry, David Odunyo, has called for practical push for gas commercialisation supported by robust infrastructure network.
He said that a portion of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) consumed in the country is imported, contributing to the high cost of cooking gas and the uncertainties in the supply chain.