$5 WORTH OF NIGERIA'S RESOURCES BURNT THROUGH GAS FLARING

Gas production in Nigeria
Nigeria is endowed with abundant natural gas resources, which in energy terms, is in excess of the nation’s proven crude oil reserve. Although, it is common knowledge that the economy is substantially dependent and more dedicated to exploration of oil than it is of gas, several deposits of gas have been discovered around oil wells in Nigeria.

However, because of past failure of government to focus and explore the many other natural resources which the country possesses, the gas industry has been practically frustrated and nearly abandoned over the years. This has led to a loss of revenue in a sector where there is a likelihood of generating more revenue. The single instance of Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited remitting huge resources to government is instructive.

The current reserve estimate of Nigerian gas is over 170 trillion cubic feet, with about 50/50 distribution ratio between Associated Gas (AG) and Non-Associated Gas (NAG), according to Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Only a small fraction of this quantity is currently being utilized.

About 63 per cent of the AG produced during the production of crude oil is currently being flared. 
DPR said that when oil companies began production in the 1960s, the cheapest way to separate the identified product, crude oil, from the associated natural gas was to burn the gas. After Russia, Nigeria flares more gas than any other country in the world in terms of the total volume of gas flared.
Cost implication of gas flaring
 
Available data show that oil and gas companies operating in Nigeria burn over $3.5 to $5 billion yearly from the over 257 flow stations in the Niger Delta. Specifically, the country flared about 17.15 per cent of the 95,471 metric tonnes of gas produced in June 2015 alone, according to data from Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
 
Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) stated in its 2015 Statistical Report that Nigeria produced 86,325.2 million standard cubic meters of gas and flared 10,736.8 million standard cubic meters in 2014. Also, NNPC disclosed that Nigeria lost up to $868.8 million, about N173.76 billion to gas flaring in 2014.