Nigeria: Shut down gas-flaring oil wells!
June 30th, 2008 | Published in Environment, Governance, Nigeria, Oil | 8 Comments
“The Federal Government has said that it is ready to shut in oil wells and lose revenue if that was what would be required to achieve the 2008 gas flares out deadline”, in a statement credited to a senior official of the Department of Petroleum Resources, and reported by the Punch Newspaper.
“The time has come for us to decide whether we are a nation or not. And if we are, we need to take some painful decisions. We should be able to leave these resources for our children unborn if we cannot utilise them today.”
Finally, it appears the government is coming to its senses.
I’m all for this. Just in April, I called for all onshore gas-flaring wells to be shut down until the nation is ready to do what is right.
There will be a loss of revenue, no doubt, and the oil producing companies are quick to point this out: A shut down will “cut Nigeria ’s production by about 870,000 barrels of oil per day, amounting to a revenue loss of $12bn at the price of $40 per barrel.”
But this isn’t too dear a price to pay for doing what’s right. Nigeria shouldn’t put its people in harm’s way and endanger the environment, just for a couple of million of dollars! Simple.
The oil companies have proposed a 2012-deadline for zero flare. In 1993, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) started pursuing the gas flares out policy without success.
Finally someone got the memo that the only option to solving nagging problems is simply to bite the bullet and face the problem head-long.
Shut down the darn wells I say!
On the web: Punch: Gas flares out deadline: FG set to shut oil wells
On Grandiose Parlor: Gas flaring, Niger-delta crisis
June 30th, 2008 at 8:09 pm (#)
It is always better to do the right thing. It will always hurt but the advantage received will outweigh any disadvantages in the long term.
Yes, let us do the right thing for the Delta and Nigeria as a whole. It’s about time. We’ll watch to see when this courageous and sensible act takes effect.
July 1st, 2008 at 2:52 am (#)
I can see the appeal for shutting down the onshore wells that produce the associcated gas that is currently flared, however the cost is a lot greater than posted in your article. Nigeria produces light crude which is currently going at between 130 and 140 dollars per barrel, over three times the quoted price of oil. So assuming 300 operational days (an under estimate). It is at least $34 billion dollars. The government’s share of that will be about $18 - 19 billion (from its share of the JV and tax receipts), which was greater than the entire earnings from crude oil in 2007. Also the crude amount to be shut in is 36% of current capacity, which is not a small amount (think impact on jobs etc).
It’s easy to say shut down, but as noble as it sounds it is actually the easy way out. The hard way is to make the commitments to develop the gas gathering and distribution facilities, to not steal the money budgeted for it, and to implement the works in a timely and professional manner.
There have been many attempts to deal with the gas problem. For example, all the NIPPs were to use gas (but were delayed by government incompetence). OKLNG was expected to also use gas but it has been delayed for political reasons. Brass LNG has started (so far without political interference) and should alleviate some of the gas issues. the West African Gas Pipeline has been delayed, but is coming on stream this year (fingers crossed). A lot of players are trying to set up gas stripping plants in order to utilise the gas. While in the Nigerian magic wand environment 2012 seems unacceptable, it is actually a realistic target based on all the plans for gas utilization both domestically and for export.
Despite all the noises that DPR and the politicians have been making (bloddy Senators and Representatives) the major issues with the delay in implementation is the government of Nigeria. If you want I can send you the gas masterplan document produced by the government a while back. They have the plan to do big things with gas, however the issue is implementation.
Anyway I’ll stop now. Sorry for the long ass comment.
July 1st, 2008 at 3:51 am (#)
@Snazzy, don’t stop or apologise for your comment above for I love it to bits and echo you all the way. Very well said. One more thing, the Federal Government has been quoted to have said so many things and named so many targets. Can anyone tell me what percentage of success story? Oh here I come again, still disillusioned. This may go away one day.
Oh Imnakoya, like your updated Grandiose Parlor with the spell checks. Se our bad grammar go betta now.
July 1st, 2008 at 9:57 am (#)
With the price of both crude oil and natural gas so high, I cannot see why this still goes on. Surely there must be some way to capture this and put it to use.
I had a discussion with a Cameroonian scientist recently who was advising a young relative to specialize in biofuels technology. I wondered how young African scientists can be encouraged about future prospects for energy technology when there is such waste and overproduction of fossil fuel resources in Nigeria and other African countries.
July 1st, 2008 at 4:15 pm (#)
Snazzy - Idea is cheap…that is the case with Nigeria. Execution is where the work is.
Don: Nigeria “can’t afford” the cost to process the flared natural gas as quickly as it’s produced. That is the problem.
OT: Policy statements, that is what the feds like to do. Empty statements.
July 4th, 2008 at 1:14 am (#)
Just came across your site via Codrin Arsine. I found your above post very interesting, and thought you’d like to know about a really great book on the subject of Nigerian oil (maybe you’ve already seen it). It’s called “The Curse of the Black Gold: 50 Years of Oil in the Niger Delta” by Ed Kashi. It’s part photojournalism and part essays by mostly Nigerian authors. The book website is http://www.curseoftheblackgoldbook.com/ and you can preview many of the images and a short film there.
Best,
Amani
July 5th, 2008 at 12:54 am (#)
Thanks Amani for the link. If I’m not mistaken, I heard Ed Kashi discuss his book on NPR several weeks ago, and I made a mental note to look it up. I totally forgot! Cheers.
July 7th, 2008 at 1:34 pm (#)
[…] the last 36 years, Nigeria has flared some 70 billion USD worth of natural gas. During the last eight of those years, Nigeria has been […]