Page 4 - AfrOil Week 20 2020

AfrOil COMMENTARY AfrOil
Nigeria flared at least 11% of total gas production last year (Photo: Nigeria Department of Petroleum Resources)
Nigeria struggling to track gas flaring
Despite the introduction of the GFT system, the country still faces a gap between data compiled from satellite observations and the numbers reported by oil operators
WHAT:
GFT data may indicate that oil producers
are under-reporting associated gas burn-offs.
WHY:
Without reliable data, Nigerian authorities will have a harder time making plans.
WHAT NEXT:
If the gap persists,
it could affect the government’s plan to promote domestic gas consumption.
SINCE 2014, Nigerian federal authorities have been using a sophisticated digital system to track the flaring of associated gas in real time. The sys- tem, known as the Gas Flare Tracker (GFT), uses satellite data to calculate the exact volume of gas burned off by oil producers.
When Nigerian officials unveiled an upgraded version of the system in April 2019, they described it as a powerful tool that would allow the government to collect accurate data on gas flaring. For example, Idris Musa, the direc- tor-general of the Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), said at the time that GFT data would be useful from an environmental standpoint.
“When you see countries saying that this is the volume of gas that they flare or this is a contribution that they [make] to global warm- ing, we Nigerians cannot say this specifically,” he remarked. “Whatever anyone who claims to be an expert says about Nigeria is what is taken
[as true]. We do not have any data to counter it. From now, if anybody [attributes] any volume of gas flared or emission to us, we can say, ‘No, this is what our own record says.’”
Accurate data are also helpful from a finan- cial standpoint, as they serve as a reminder of the true value of gas resources, Musa added. “[We] would be able to tell how much heat is generated, how much gas is flared and what the cost of the gas flared is,” he said. “Perhaps, if it [could have] been compressed, treated and utilised, this is the number of dollars it would have given us by way of revenue. Flaring the gas is also burning what ordinarily should have been revenue to us.”
Stakeholder Democratic Network (SDN),
which developed the system with funding from
the Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform (FOSTER), also hailed GFT as a means
of promoting transparency with respect to
both environmental monitoring and monetary considerations. 
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w w w . N E W S B A S E . c o m Week 20 20•May•2020