… cooking gas consumption exceeds one million MT
The Federal Government and oil companies in the country lost an estimated N170.77 billion from January to December last year.
Analyses by Biz Watch Nigeria on Tuesday showed that a total of 166.27 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas was flared.
This is despite the inability of the government to meet its revenue target and fund the budget for 2020.
The oil companies wasted 19.95 billion scf of gas in January; 18.27 billion scf in February; 19.71 billion scf in March; 17.90 billion scf in April; 15.07 billion scf in May; and 11.37 billion scf in June 2020, according to data obtained from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
Checks showed that in July, 11.57 billion scf of natural gas was flared by the oil companies; 11.47 billion scf in August; 12.22 billion scf in September; 12.1 billion scf in October; 15.6 billion scf in November; and 12.51 billion scf in December.
With the price of natural gas put at $2.71 per 1,000scf as of Monday, the 166.27 billion scf flared translates to an estimated loss of $450.59m or N170.77bn (using the official exchange rate of N379/dollar).
Nigeria has long been a global hotspot for gas flaring, with successive government administrations reiterating their commitment to cleaning up the industry.
In 2020, the government disclosed plans to tackle the issue and raise new revenue from wasted natural gas.
The Director-General of the Budget Office, Ben Akabueze, had said gas flaring penalties promulgated in 2018 would be revised.
According to him, gas flaring fine for companies which produce 10,000 barrels of oil per day or more has been at $2 per 1,000 cubic feet of gas, while the fine for companies producing less than 10,000 barrels a day is $0.5 per 1,000 cubic feet.
READ ALSO: Nigeria Earned $120.49m From Crude Oil, Gas Export In September- NNPC
Meanwhile, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency on Tuesday announced that the consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas in Nigeria, popularly called cooking gas, exceeded one million metric tonnes in 2020.
The agency said this made 2020 the first year in the Nigeria’s history where cooking gas consumption had reached the one million MT threshold, in a statement issued in Abuja.
Nigeria consumed 840,594.37MT of LPG in 2019, indicating an increase of 60.5 per cent over 2018 figure of 635,452.061MT.
The Executive Secretary, PPPRA, Abdulkadir Saidu, said, “This steady and sustained pattern of growth culminating in the over one million metric tonnes of LPG domestic consumption milestone in 2020 has placed the country first in West Africa and one of the leading LPG consuming nations on the continent.
He explained in a statement issued in Abuja that with the feat, the country was on track to meet the five million MT target by 2022, as set in the Nigeria Gas Policy of 2017.
He said this translates to an average of one million MT/year, provided the country sustains and ramps up intervention efforts and initiatives.
Saidu said the aim of the Federal Government’s resolve to deepen LPG penetration across the country was to create a healthier life for all Nigerians by providing access to a cleaner source of energy for cooking, vehicular transportation and other domestic uses.
READ ALSO: Cooking Gas, Diesel Prices Rose In December – NBS
He noted that the attainment of the one million MT domestic utilisation milestone was a testimony to the progress made so far in ensuring the provision of alternative sources of fueling to Nigerians in place of petrol, diesel and kerosene.
