Nigeria's Flaring Declined in 2016, Say Abuja & World Bank
There’s both good and less good news about gas flaring in Nigeria. First the good news: it continued to fall in 2016 according to both government and World Bank data. The less auspicious news is that flaring declined less sharply than the country’s oil production, which suggests there's a risk that flaring might rise if oil output recovers and stabilises.
Nigeria’s Ministry of Petroleum Resources said that 771mn ft3/d – or 18% of the country’s 4.33bn ft3/d associated gas produced at 215 oilfields – was routinely flared in 2016. That equates to a 2016 flaring total of 281.4bn ft³ (8bn m³), which is 15% less than the 330bn ft³ flared in 2015, according to the ministry.
World Bank data, released last week and based on satellite imaging rather than metering on the ground, also show a reduction in Nigeria’s flaring: to 7.315bn m³ in 2016 – even lower than the ministry's figure – down 4.4% from 7.658bn m³ in 2015.
Nigeria has reduced flaring so consistently in recent years that it fell from fourth to seventh worst-flaring nation between 2013 and 2016, notes the Bank.
Omono Okonkwo