Nigeria gas flaring is still going unabated despite unalloyed effort and commitment by the present government in creating enabling environment for oil and gas companies to invest in the recent gas code master plan unveiled by the Mohammadu Buhari led administration. According to the data made available by National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) a Nigerian body in charge crude oil pollution and environment control, oil and gas companies operating in the country have flared 354 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas in the whole of 2020.

The volume of gas flared in the 12-month period, according to the NOSDRA’s report on gas flaring by oil firms, represented a loss of $1.24 billion, an equivalent of N469.96 billion, to the Nigerian economy, a 22.5 per cent decline compared to the $1.6 billion (N606.4 billion) lost to gas flaring in 2019.

The report also noted that the volume of gas flared in 2020, was 24.07 per cent lower than the 466.2 BCF of gas flared in 2019.

The NOSDRA report highlighted that the 354 BCF of gas flared in 2020 was equivalent to 19 million tonnes of Carbon dioxide (CO2) emission into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming.

It added that the companies were liable to a fine of $708 million, about N268.332 billion, many of which it claimed are not collected from the oil companies, while it also stated that the flared gas was capable of generating 35,400 gigawatts hours of electricity, equivalent to the annual electricity of 804 million Nigerian citizens.

Giving a breakdown of the quantity of gas flared on a month-on-month basis, the NOSDRA report noted that in January, February, March, April, May, and June 2020, 38.54 BCF of gas, 32.02 BCF, 35.8 BCF, 39.49 BCF, 38.88 BCF and 29.05 BCF of gas were flared respectively, while 18.34 BCF, 24.77 BCF, 8.29 BCF and 21.45 BCF, 32 BCF and 33 BCF of gas were flared in July, August, September, October, November and December 2020, respectively.

While significant portion of the total gas produced in the country is flared on a daily basis, the price of cooking gas in Nigeria, despite the largely stable price of gas in the international market, had continue to skyrocket

The reason for the rise remains unknown, despite the fact that the Federal Government had in 2018, removed the Value Added Tax (VAT) placed on locally-produced cooking gas.