By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria lost N23.8 billion or $57.9 million to gas flaring in May 2021 as oil and gas firms operating in the country, including Total Energies, flared 17.9 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas in the month under review.
This was according to gas production and utilization data for May 2021, presented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).
Using the NNPC’s published average natural gas price of $3.228 for 1,000 SCF of the commodity, the flaring of 17.9 billion SCF translated to a loss of $57.9 million; while using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) exchange rate of N409.62 to a dollar, this translates to a loss of N23.8 billion.
The quantity of gas flared in May 2021 was 5.1 per cent higher than the 17.095 billion SCF of gas flared in the previous month.
Also, the NNPC report noted that a total of 176.8 billion SCF of gas was produced in the month under review, 6.4 per cent higher compared to the 166.2 billion SCF produced in April 2021.
This means that the gas flare rate, that is the percentage of gas produced that was flared, for May 2021, was 10.2 per cent; this was in comparison with the 10.3 per cent gas flare rate recorded in April 2021.
Furthermore, the NNPC stated that total associated and non-associated gas produced in May 2021, stood at 109.1 billion SCF and 67.7 billion SCF respectively.
In addition, the corporation put total utilized gas at 158.8 billion SCF in May, rising by 6.5 per cent compared with 149.1 billion SCF recorded in April; while total unutilized gas, of which 100 per cent of the volume was flared stood 17.9 billion SCF, compared with 17.1 billion SCF in April 2021.
In its analysis of the total volume of gas utilized, the report explained that 8,695 billion SCF was utilized as fuel gas; 65.3 billion SCF and 9.0 billion SCF of gas were utilized by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas Company (NLNG) and Escravos Gas to Liquids (EGTL) plants, respectively; while 3.8 billion SCF was converted to Natural Gas Liquids (NGL)/Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG).
Furthermore, the report added that total domestic gas sales through the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and others, stood at 20.3 billion SCF in April, while 51.632 billion SCF of gas was reinjected and used as gas lift make-up.
The report showed that Total Exploration and Production Nigeria (TEPNG), now Total Energies, flared the most quantity of gas in the month under review, accounting for 23.7 per cent of total gas flared, with 4.3 billion SCF of the commodity. This, however, represented 17.9 per cent of its total gas output of 23.7 billion SCF.
Mobil followed as it flared 2.2 billion SCF of gas, representing 7.8 per cent of its total gas output of 25.2 billion SCF; while Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) flared 2.1 billion SCF of gas from its Bonga Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, representing 89.2 per cent of its total of 2.3 billion SCF of gas produced.
For another month, Seplat in May flared 100 per cent of its total gas output, translating to 134 million standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas; followed by the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company/Seplat Development Company (NPDC/SPDC) joint venture, which flared 96 per cent of their total gas production, translating to 77 million SCF.
Furthermore, the report noted that Belema Oil flared 340 million SCF of gas, representing 95.8 per cent of its total gas production; while First Exploration and Production (E&P) flared 593 million SCF of gas, representing 95 per cent of its total gas output.
Modupe Gbadeyanka