The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has established a 12-member ‘Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme Team’ to guide the Federal Government’s initiative to eliminate gas flaring by 2025.
The Chief Executive officer of the commission, Gbenga Komolafe, who inaugurated the team in Abuja, said that monetising gas resources was a great step towards ensuring energy security, particularly during the global energy transition phase.
Komolafe, in a statement on Sunday said ”gas flaring in the industry had continued to be a menace which needed to be eradicated because of its adverse effects on the environment and people.”
He added that the wasteful disposal of natural gas is not only fraught with serious health/environmental consequences, but it is also a major resource waste and value erosion to the country.
Komolafe said that was why the Federal Government declared the period 2021 to 2030 as the “Decade of Gas”, a period within which the nation must shift focus from oil-centred exploitation to gas driven industrial development.
He recalled that in 2016, the Federal Government initiated the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), to end flaring of natural gas by oil companies operating in the country. He, however, said that the initiative was well-received by stakeholders and industry watchers, although unforeseen constraints truncated its execution.
He announced that NUPRC was recommencing the process of issuing flare sites to technically competent companies, following a competitive bid process.
This process according to him has become crucial in view of the policy direction of the Federal Government to ensure all gas resources are developed for National development.
