Nigeria’s President, Muhammadu Buhari has said that with the support of the National Assembly, Nigeria intends to sign the United Nations Agreement on Zero Routing Gas Flaring by 2030, indicating that the Federal Government has indeed set an earlier national target of 2020 to end gas flaring in the country.
While speaking on Monday March 14, 2015 at the opening session of the 6th African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition, President Muhammadu Buhari represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (Professor) declared the conference opened, noting that ending gas flaring is an imperative for African oil producers considering the amount of waste involved. He also called on African countries to take advantage of the gas-to-power potentials and observed that there is also the gas-to-power challenge in many member-states and the paradox of much gas but precious little gas to fire power plants. According to him, it is time to take a much further stand on gas flaring, both from environmental and a waste-of-needed-resources perspective. He explained to the gathering composed of oil and energy ministers from several African countries and chieftains in the oil and gas sector that the incremental use of gas in Africa’s energy mix has become an imperative; stressing that if Africa must meet her future energy needs, the issue of the development of a robust gas infrastructure must be jointly addressed. The President informed that out of the over 150 billion cubit metres of associated gas flared annually in the world, Africa flares an estimated 40 billion cubic metres, whilst about half of that is flared by Nigeria. He further observed that Nigeria has the 7th largest deposit of gas in the world with reserves estimated at over 185 trillion cubic feet (TCF) being the highest in quality. In his address to legislators, policy makers and oil and gas industry experts from around the continent in another forum held at the International Conference Centre in Abuja, Yemi Osinbajo observed that with the present volatility in the industry, the coming years would be defining for African oil and gas producing countries. He suggested that developing local content initiatives and policies would be very useful for the sector, adding that a common approach to local content will ensure that the whole of Africa benefits from the economy of scale associated with vast resources. Yemi Osinbajo opined that with the current oil prices and the challenges faced in the industry, the relevance and creativity of the African Petroleum Producers Association is being tested. He assured that the continent has all the resources needed to transform African countries, stating that there is no reason why the African oil and gas industry should remain attached to the apron strings of industries elsewhere. Expressing the need for African oil producing countries to take their destiny in their hands, Osinbajo challenged the African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA) member-countries to recognize the latent and huge resources in Africa and develop the strategy for the development of domestic refining capacity in the oil and gas critical for sustainable economic growth. “We must explore mechanisms to expand regional refining capacities in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Nigeria’s active involvement in the West African pipeline project is expected to deliver clean and safe natural gas from Nigeria to countries in the sub-region,” he emphasized. While commending the organizers of the conference, the Vice President described the theme of the meeting: “Positioning African Petroleum For Global Development and Value Addition” as apt because hydro carbon accounts for a significant proportion of government revenue and could help address the challenge of gas-to-power for energy generation. In his welcome remarks at the event, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and President of APPA, Ibe Kachikwu (Dr) stated that the conference was timely being scheduled at a critical period when the industry is experiencing price volatility. He observed that the situation is of global concern, threatening to oil and gas investments, but also creates opportunities for new energy sources. At the opening ceremony of conference were members of the National Assembly, Cabinet Ministers and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal as well as the Executive Secretary of the Association, Mohaman Gaya (Engr), envoys, local and international petroleum industry chieftains and experts.
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