Reps adhoc committee to investigate gas flaring $9bn revenue loss

By Ibiyemi Mathew

A House of Representatives adhoc committee has commenced investigation into an alleged sum of $9.05 billion revenue loss from gas flaring in the last ten years.

The adhoc committee was constituted yesterday after a motion was moved at the plenary by Hon. Ahmed Mohammed Munir titled “Need to Address the Lingering Issue of Gas Flaring by Oil and Gas Companies.”

Addressing the plenary, Munir said, “A report on National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) which states that in 2022, Nigeria flared 216.5 billion standard cubic feet of gas in about 11 months despite its commitment in November 2021 to reach net zero by 2060.

“The report states that 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) were emitted into the atmosphere, thus contributing to global warming while useful natural gas valued at $0.79 billion was burned by the Nigerian oil and gas industry equivalent to the value of $450 million, many of which were said not to be collected.”

“In 2022, 22,500 Gigawatts hours of potential power generation went to waste, equivalent to the annual electricity use of 511 million Nigerian citizens,” he said.

The House urged the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, NOSDRA to within two weeks provide it with specified information on companies involved in flaring to include amount flared and penalty cost in the last decade for both local and international oil companies (IOCs) so that outstanding debts would be fully recovered.

It was also encouraged for key and relevant government agencies of the petroleum sector, the Ministry of Environment, those under the Ministry of Power respectively to avoid working in silos and strengthen synergy to produce a practical and unified multi-level governance and policy coherence analysis that will stem gas flaring, protect the environment and boost energy supply.