Nigeria Oil Bill To Outlaw Gas Flaring By The End Of 2012

Nigeria's newly drafted oil bill, which is now close to being finalised, mandates that oil firms must stop flaring gas by the end of this year, and that if they don't they can be fined.
Africa's top oil producer has long pledged but failed to end flaring, and although officials say it has fallen in the past decade, Nigeria remains the world's second biggest burner of gas associated with crude oil production after Russia. Many see the new target date to end flaring as unrealistic.
"Natural gas shall not be flared or vented after 31st December, 2012, in any oil and gas production operation, block or field, onshore or offshore, or gas facility," except under exceptional and temporary circumstances, says a new draft of the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
"Any licensee who flares or vents gas without the permission of the Minister in (special) circumstances ... shall be liable to pay a fine which shall not be less than the value of gas."
Nigeria flared some 30 billion standard cubic feet of gas in January, according to the latest figures from the state oil firm, published by the national news agency. That is equivalent to a third of the annual consumption of an industrialised country like the United Kingdom.
Of that, ExxonMobil topped the list, flaring 9.85 billion cubic feet out of 38.64 billion produced, while Chevron flared 8.25 billion cubic feet out of 19.23 billion.
Leading operator Shell, which runs Nigeria's liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, flared 5.44 billion cubic feet, a relatively small part of the 76.4 billion it produced.
All have been criticised by environmental groups, but the oil majors retort that they would be happy to trap all of the gas if the government provided them with a market for it.
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