SOCIAL ACTION

PRESS RELEASE

August 26, 2008

Gas Flaring: Energy Minister is Wrong!

The insensitivity of the Yar’Adua/PDP government to the wellbeing of Nigerian citizens, particularly those in the Niger Delta has once again come to the fore with the recent pronouncement by the Minister of State for Energy (Gas), Mr. Emmanuel Odushina that “the federal government has no deadline for ending gas flaring in Nigeria”. He went further to claim that government has never set any deadline for gas flaring in Nigeria!

“This position by the Minister is not only very unfortunate but also a crude attempt by a public office holder to distort facts and mislead the Nigerian people”, said Asume Osuoka, Director of Social Action, a Nigerian citizens' organisation. “It is on record that successive Nigerian governments have set and broken several deadlines for oil companies to end gas flaring in Nigeria, as they continue to kowtow to the whims of oil companies and shirk its responsibility to develop energy infrastructure for national economic development”, he added.

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In 1969, Nigerian military dictators requested oil companies to set up facilities to use the associated gas from their operations within five years of commencement of production. However, this requirement was changed in later legislations in 1979, which set a time limit of 1980 for companies to develop gas utilization projects or face fines. But the government could not enforce this regulation. And with pressure from oil companies, the Nigerian military government in 1985 enacted the “Associated Gas Re-Injection (Continued Flaring of Gas) Regulations, which prohibited gas flaring but gave some exemptions and imposed paltry fines for defaulters. Shell and the companies preferred to flare and pay the scanty fines at huge environmental costs to communities that live with the impacts.

In 2005 the oil companies operating in Nigeria paid a total amount of $ 19.8 million as penalty for gas flaring.  This is a paltry amount that companies prefer to continue paying rather than make the investments needed to stop indiscriminate gas flaring.

In 1999, on the return of Nigerian government to civilian administration, officials announced that all oil companies should end gas flaring by 2003. The Obasanjo government would later change the target to 2004. Shell and the other oil producing companies rejected the target dates set by government officials as unrealistic. On its part, Shell announced that it would eliminate gas flaring from its facilities in 2008. Again, the Nigerian government was coerced and dropped its earlier target, accepting instead 2008 as a new target date for all oil companies to end gas flaring in Nigeria. However, this widely advertised flare-out date, which was a result of an understanding with the oil companies, was not backed by any legislation.

Minister Odushina’s claim that the government has never set any deadline for ending gas flaring in Nigeria is false, diversionary and most misleading which in our view is part of a well orchestrated design by it in connivance with oil companies to once again flout the December 2008 flare out date. It is instructive to note that as a prelude to that already, Shell has recently made statements to the effect that it cannot keep to any deadline on gas flaring.

Gas flaring kills as well as degrades our environment. A cocktail of toxins such as benzene, methane, toluene, hydrogen sulphide etc released into the atmosphere through flaring. These are known to cause different forms of cancer, respiratory and lung diseases as well as skin conditions. Community livelihoods have also been lost as farm crops record retarded growth and poor yield as a result of ‘acid rain’ caused by gas flaring.

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Gas flaring is a major contributor to global climate change, as the two major greenhouse gasses, carbon dioxide and methane are released into the atmosphere. It is therefore sad that government is treating this issue with such apparent levity considering the country’s vulnerability to climate change impacts such as sea level rise, decline in agricultural production/food crises, desertification etc.

Against this background and consequences, Social Action rejects Minister Odushina’s statements, claims and positions completely and strongly urge government to muster the political will and immediately set in motion the process of actualizing the 2008 flare out date.

Social Action reiterates the demand of Nigerian citizens’ organizations to the National Assembly to take concrete action to protect the health and livelihood of our people and to end the colossal wastage of our national energy resources. Specifically, we demand that:

•           The National Assembly should, as a matter of urgency, enact a legislation that compels all oil producing companies to end gas flaring in 2008 as called for by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Previous flare-out dates have been violated by the oil companies despite the 2005 ruling by a federal high court which declared gas flaring as illegal and a gross violation of fundamental right to life.

•           The National Assembly should enact legislation that compels government and the oil companies to harness associated gas, which is presently flared, for power generation for the communities of the Niger Delta and to feed the national grid.

•           There needs to be a participatory audit of gas flaring to ascertain damage and effect compensation to community victims. The National Assembly should enact legislation to compel the Government to conduct this audit.

•           The National Assembly should compel all oil producing companies to stop crude oil production in any oil field where gas is still being flared as called for by the DPR. According to a November 2007 report by the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), more than 70 percent (177 out of 139) of the oil fields in Nigeria still flare gas. 

•           The National Assembly should legislate to ensure that the fines announced by DPR for 2008 are imposed and that all revenues are dedicated to a ‘Special Community Health Fund’ which will help deal with the direct and indirect health impacts of flaring and oil operations.

 

Signed by:

Vivian Bellonwu

Programme Officer, Energy and Climate

Social Action

33, Oromineke Layout, Off Emekuku Street, D-Line, Port Harcourt

vivianbello@yahoo.co.uk

07039370306