Speaking at the official launch of the Gas Flare tracker in Abuja, the Minister of Environment, Mrs Laurentia Laraba Mallam, has said the utilisation of gas through gas flare tracker would improve power generation by an estimated 27,000 (Gwh) per annum.
She said the gas flare tracker is able to display the volume of gas flared – which is estimated at 319 billion standard cubic foot (SCF) – and can also calculate the amount of unpaid fines by facility owners, estimated at $1.1 billion dollars per annum.
The project, to be managed by National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), according to the Director General, Sir Peter Idabor, would lead to the creation of a visual database that holds details on the location and size of all the gas flared in the country.
He noted that Nigeria currently flares approximately 50 per cent of the natural gas produced and that it is also estimated that 30 billion standard cubic feet of gas was flared in 2011.
“Government agencies and oil companies need to improve their own data gathering and GIS mapping capacities and then act on the knowledge,” he said.
Dr. Andrew Pocock, the British High Commissioner, said gas flaring was clearly a vast waste of economic potential by Nigeria, adding that lack of available gas remained a constraint in providing power and so the launch of the tool would aid in curtailing the gas being flared.
He stated that about 17 million tons of carbon dioxide was being emitted yearly through the flaring of gas in the country.
“To put this in context, a 2010 report estimated that vehicles in Lagos emitted 340 thousand tonnes of CO2 per year. At that rate, it would take Lagos vehicles 50 years to produce as much CO2 as gas flaring produces in one year,” he said.
According to him, the gas flaring tracker was a transparent system that provides data and insights that would help guide regulation, incentives and investment aimed at reducing gas flaring and its impacts.
The gas flare tracker was launched in partnership with the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) and Department for International Network
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