By Adedapo Adesanya
The latest data has shown that energy companies operating in Nigeria produced 149.263 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas in February 2023, 6.72 per cent lower than the 160.013 billion SCF of gas produced in January.
A breakdown of total gas output for February 2023 showed that associated gas output stood at 107.702 billion SCF, while non-associated gas output stood at 41.561 billion SCF.
According to gas utilisation data released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), 93.52 per cent of the gas produced was utilised, while 6.48 per cent was flared.
Specifically, 139.589 billion SCF of gas was utilised in February 2023, dropping by 7.25 per cent of the 150.493 billion SCF of gas utilised in the previous month, while 9.674 billion SCF of gas was flared, up by 1.62 per cent, compared to the 9.520 billion SCF flared in January 2023.
In the gas utilisation segment, the NNPC stated that 9.084 billion SCF of gas was used as fuel gas; 45.977 billion SCF was allocated to the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG), while 5.247 billion SCF was allocated to Escravos Gas to Liquid (EGTL) project.
In addition, 2.353 billion SCF of gas was used for Natural Gas Liquids/Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG); domestic gas sales by the Nigerian Gas Company and others gulped 23.222 billion SCF, while 53.705 billion SCF was used by gas re-injection and gas lift make-up.
In the Joint Venture (JV) segment, Mobil Nigeria recorded the highest gas output, with 25.668 billion SCF, followed by Shell with 24.203 billion SCF; TotalEnergies produced 23.481 billion SCF of gas, while Chevron recorded a gas output of 20.683 billion SCF of gas.
However, despite producing the highest quantity of gas in the month under review, Mobil flared 6.26 per cent of its total gas output; Shell flared 4.19 per cent of its total output; Total Energies flared 2.37 per cent of its total output, while Chevron flared 9.03 per cent of its gas output.
In the Production Sharing Contract (PSC) segment, Star Deepwater – Agbami Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO), operated by Total Energies and its partners, produced 12.744 billion SCF of gas, out of which 1.06 per cent was flared; while TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria’s Akpo FPSO produced 11.975 billion SCF of gas and flared 1.22 per cent of the total.
Belema Oil, Seplat and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company were the worst offenders in the sector in February 2023, as they flared 100 per cent of their gas output; followed by Agip Energy and Natural Resources, which flared 95.93 per cent of its total gas output, while First Exploration and Production Limited flared 95 per cent of its total gas output.
Dipo Olowookere