From Adewale Sanyaolu, Houston Texas

Nigeria, the 9th largest gas producing nation in the world lost $850 million to gas flare in 2015, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said
Deputy Director and Head upstream, DPR, Mrs. Pat Maseli gave the shocking revelation at the 10th Annual Sub-Saharan Africa Oil and Gas Conference in Houston Texas at the weekend.
She explained that the development equally led to a loss of 3500 mega watts of electricity generation and about $400 million carbon credit value.
On the other hand, she stated that 55 million Barrels of Oil Equivalent (BOE) was lost and 25 million tons of carbon dioxide emitted. Although, she said the country is recording decline, but the scale of gas flaring is still worrisome.
With almost 8 billion cubic meters of gas flared annually according to satellite data, Nigeria is the seventh-largest gas flarer in the world. At the same time approximately 75 million Nigerians lack access to electricity.
In recent years, Nigeria has shown significant progress, reducing gas flaring by about 2 billion cubic meters from 2012 to 2015.
At a recent two-day seminar organized jointly by the government of Nigeria, the International Gas Union (IGU), the World Bank, focused on reducing gas flaring at oil production sites and unlocking the country’s significant gas potential, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, Nigeria’s State Minister for Petroleum Resources, presented Nigeria’s high-level roadmap to end routine gas flaring by 2020, which is a full decade ahead of the target in the “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” Initiative, a global effort to end routine flaring that Nigeria endorsed in 2016.
Kachikwu who was represented by his Senior Technical Adviser, Mr. Gbite Adeniji, said “This massive amount of gas flared annually in Nigeria is a waste of energy that our country just cannot afford. Now is the time to step up our efforts and what is needed are innovative, bold approaches to flare reduction,” said Adeniji.
Meanwhile, Maseli explained that prior to now; there was no gas terms in place, stating that last month the Department developed policies on gas terms and utilization which was passed to operators for their input which would be subsequently sent to the National Assembly for its accent.
She explained that part of the strategic theme of Nigeria’s Gas Master Plan was to deliver about 80 percent generation of existing and ongoing power plants capacity supports 9 out of the 11GW current installed power generation fleet
On the other hand, she stated that the Gas Master Plan seeks to deliver gas to commercial subsector for use as fuel, captive power, and related end-use consolidate Nigeria’s position and market share in high value export markets.
‘‘The master plan will create regional hub for gas-based industries – fertilizer, petrochemical and methanol. Transform gas sector to value adding sector in a bid to consolidate Nigeria’s position and market share in high value export markets,’’ she said.
Giving a breakdown of the 2008-2013 Domestic Gas Supply Obligation (DGSO),Maseli said compliance was about 23 percent, while 2016 DSO was achieved at 38.18 percent and 40 percent in 2017