Seplat, Belema, First E&P behind worst gas flare rate per output

Adebayo Obajemu

Seplat Energy, Belema Oil, First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company (First E&P) and Nigerian Petroleum Development Company/Shell Petroleum Development Company (NPDC/SPDC) Joining Venture (JV) have stood out as the worst culprits when it comes to gas flaring in Nigeria.

According to latest gas output data for November 2021, the above mentioned companies flared between 90 per cent and 100 per cent of their respective gas output in the month under review.

In the data released by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of the 165.168 billion standard cubic feet (SCF) of gas produced by all the oil and gas companies operating in the country in November 2021, 13.615 billion SCF was flared, which amounts to 8.24 per cent of total gas output.

In contrast , Nigeria recorded total gas output of 156.529 billion SCF in the month of October 2021, even as the volume of gas flared in the same month was 12.819 billion SCF, representing 8.19 per cent of total gas output.

In November 2021 alone according to the NNPC report, Seplat recorded the worst flaring rate, in percentage terms, as it was responsible for flaring 100 per cent of the 116 million SCF of gas it produced; closely followed in tow by Belema Oil, which flared 95.51 per cent (281 million SCF) of the 294 million SCF of gas it produced.

First E&P produced 731 million SCF of gas in the month under review, and flared 688 million SCF, representing 94 per cent of its total output, while NPDC/SPDC Joint Venture flared 28 million SCF out of the 31 million SCF of gas it produced in November 2021, representing 90 per cent of its total gas output.

Addax and Aiteo followed flaring 55.76 per cent and 39.31 per cent of their total gas outputs of 1.641 billion SCF and 854 million SCF respectively.

When we talk in volume terms, Shell Nigeria flared the most gas in the country in the month under review, with 2.242 billion SCF of gas from its gas output of 46.217 billion SCF; while Mobil flared 2.157 billion SCF of gas out of its total output of 24.645 billion SCF.

Also, the NNPC reported that Star Deepwater – Agbami Floating Production Storage Offloading Vessel (FPSO) produced 11.817 billion SCF of gas in the month, out of which 2.053 billion SCF was flared.

The percentage of gas flared compared to their output was 4.85 per cent, 8.75 per cent and 17.38 per cent, respectively, for Shell, Mobil and Star Deepwater – Agbami FPSO.