Gas Flaring: Nigeria Loses N53.26bn In Two Months – NNPC

NNPC Boss

In the first two months of this year, Nigeria has lost an estimated N53.26 billion as international and local oil companies flared a total of 33.04 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas.

According to data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), a total of 17.53 billion scf of gas was wasted by oil companies, compared to 15.51 billion scf in February.

Gas flaring has been a major backlash in the petroleum industry as it portends loss of natural gas and shortage of viable profit from the finished products.

With the price of natural gas put at $3.93 per 1,000scf as of Wednesday, the 33.04 billion scf flared translates to an estimated loss of $129.85m or N53.26bn (according to the official exchange rate of N410.13/dollar).

Read Also: Nigeria Loses $26.3bn Every Year to Maritime Insecurity – Buhari

The NNPC, in its latest monthly report, said out of the 206.05 billion scf produced in February, a total of 133.06 billion scf was commercialised, consisting of 40.15 billion scf and 92.91 billion scf for the domestic and export market respectively.

It said this inferred that 64.48 per cent of the average daily gas produced was commercialised while the balance of 35.52 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel gas or flared.

Gas flare rate was 7.67 per cent in February (i.e. 565.52 million standard cubic feet per day), compared to 7.73 per cent in January (i.e. 554.01 million scfd).

In the first month of the year 2021, a total of 223.55 billion scf of natural gas was produced, translating to an average daily production of 7,220.22 million scfd.

From the total gas output in January, a total of 149.24 billion scf was commercialised, consisting of 44.29 billion scf and 104.95 billion scf for the domestic and export markets respectively.

This implies that 67.15 per cent of the daily gas output was commercialised while the balance of 32.85 per cent was re-injected, used as upstream fuel, or flared, the NNPC said.