Leadership (Abuja)
Ben Adoga
20 February 2008
Abuja — Group managing director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Engr. Abubakar Lawal Yar'Adua, said yesterday that the corporation has so far sourced $5 billion (N640 billion) from the capital market for infrastructure development directed at ending gas flaring in the country.
He made this revelation to the Senate Committee on Gas, Environment and Ecology and the Committee on Petroleum (upstream) investigating the impacts of gas flaring and the deadline given to oil companies to end gas pollution.
Engr. Yar'Adua told the committees that the infrastructure for stoppage of gas flaring was "capital intensive" and, as such, would require the efforts of both Federal Government and the oil companies to stop.
He said so far, the presidency had authorized the NNPC to source funds for the purpose and that the said amount was realized from the capital market.
Meanwhile, the GMD said the end to flaring would not be feasible till 2009. He said the stoppage of flaring was dependent on funds and infrastructure available for the purpose.
"The real issue is gas flaring funding and infrastructure development. By 2009, if all is put in place, we can achieve 98% flare out," Yar'Adua stated.
He said the period of two years was feasible to achieve reasonable target in gas flare out when the infrastructure for the purpose is put in place.
Yar'Adua said government was aware that the energy crisis was responsible for closure of factories in cities like Kano, Kaduna, Enugu, Onitsha and so on and would do all within its means to harness associated gas for industrial purposes in the domestic market.
Earlier, the director of Department of Petroleum Resources, (DPR), Mr. Anthony Chukwueke, had informed the Senate committees that the nation was flaring 2.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day, and that gas flaring had been on daily since 1958 in Nigeria. He said the penalty against flaring was so little that the international oil companies preferred to pay than put in place infrastructure towards ending flaring.
The director noted that ending flaring was capital intensive.
"We need an investment of $20 million to stop the flaring, and the Federal Government is yet to meet her side of the obligation for the purpose," he said.
Minister of state, energy gas, Mr. Emmanuel Odusina, while urging the committees to find a lasting solution to gas flaring, said Nigeria was ranked seventh in the world while Russia is first. He assured that the resolution towards the end of flaring would be respected by government.
On the conflicting report on the deadline of flare out between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2008, Mr. Lawrence Ajibe, who represented the minister of environment and housing, said both dates were out of the question. He said the deadline of July 31, 2008 was arrived at between 9th and 10th August, 2004, when the ministry called a meeting of international oil companies, stakeholders and host community representatives in the Abuja Sheraton Hotel.
Earlier, Senator Grace Bent had noted that the Senate would not hesitate to impose penalties on defaulting companies, adding that "the Senate will not hesitate in shutting down oil wells that are harzardous to the lives of our people and the environment."
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