Page 9 - AfrOil Week 19 2022

AfrOil PERFORMANCE AfrOil

He continued: “This is an aberration because all to be a problem, with NNPC demanding pay-
those costs associated with the DSDP, they will ment in US dollars from local refiners, which
pass these costs to the government, which will typically conduct their business in Nigerian
add to the pump price. That’s why you see the naira.
cost of products going up in the market.” One source concluded: “We are not saying
Another source said that if diesel were give us for free. We want to purchase and sell
“refined locally, all these associated costs will be to the local market to ameliorate the local chal-
eliminated.” lenges the country is facing with refined prod-
Meanwhile, payment terms have also proved ucts.” ™

World Bank says 10 oil-producing states

account for 75% of all global gas flaring

GLOBAL PROGRESS on the global drive to reduce gas successful approaches to reducing emissions.)
flaring, the practice of burning off associated The report finds that many countries have
gas during oil production, has stalled out over also demonstrated leadership in flare reduc-
the last decade, according to the World Bank. tion. It notes, for example, that Kazakhstan
A report from the bank’s Global Gas Flaring achieved the largest overall flare reduction of all
Reduction Partnership (GGFR) says gas flaring countries in the last 10 years, reducing absolute
generated nearly 400mn tonnes of carbon diox- flaring from 4 bcm in 2012 to 1.5 bcm in 2021,
ide (CO2) equivalent emissions in 2021. owing to strictly enforced regulations. Colom-
It also notes that 10 oil-producing countries bia, meanwhile, reduced flaring from 1 bcm in
accounted for 75% of all gas flaring. Seven of 2012 to 0.3 bcm in 2021 through domestic gas
these – Russia, Iraq, Iran, the US, Venezuela, utilisation and strong regulations that prohibit
Algeria, and Nigeria – have remained in the top any gas from being wasted.
10 consistently over the past 10 years. “Many oil-producing countries already
Data from the GGFR’s 2022 Global Gas have policies in place to reduce gas flaring and
Flaring Tracker Report shows that 144bn cubic venting, but not all approaches have proven
metres of gas was flared at upstream oil and gas effective,” commented Zubin Bamji, GGFR’s
facilities last year. The practice led to the release programme manager at the World Bank. “Our
of 361mn tonnes of carbon dioxide, as well as new regulatory review and analysis will help
39mn tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in governments create the right policies for their
the form of methane and black carbon (soot), specific circumstances so routine flaring and
contributing significantly to global warming. venting can come to an end by 2030, which is
“Climate change is one of the defining devel- our collective goal.” ™
opment challenges of our time,” said Demetrios
Papathanasiou, Global Director for the Energy
and Extractives Global Practice at the World
Bank. “Ending the polluting and wasteful prac-
tice of gas flaring and decarbonising oil and gas
production, while also accelerating the transi-
tion to cleaner energy, is fundamental to miti-
gating climate change.”
Gas flaring has continued because of mar-
ket and economic constraints and a lack of
appropriate regulation and political will, says
the GGFR. Nevertheless, while 2021 showed
disappointing progress amidst the global pan-
demic, some promising flaring reduction trends
emerged in several countries.
According to the GGFR, the US is the only
one of the countries among the top 10 to have
successfully reduced flare volumes while
increasing production over the last decade,
decreasing its flaring intensity by 46%. (In a
companion report, Global Flaring and Venting
Regulations, GGFR examines the flaring and
venting policies of 21 countries and highlights Algeria and Nigeria are among the world’s top 10 flarers (Image: World Bank)

Week 19 11•May•2022 www. NEWSBASE .com P9