Nigeria Can't Stop Flaring Right Now, Industry Says
Date: 16-Nov-05
Country: NIGERIA
Author: Tume Ahemba
A court ruled on Monday that gas flaring should cease now because it violates the human rights of local people, but industry players said this was not achievable.
"Certain situations are just impossible. To immediately stop flaring would mean a complete shut down of oil production and I don't think that would be in Nigeria's interest," said Emmanuel Agbegir, a spokesman for Nigeria's oil minister.
"The government target (to end flaring) is 2008 and all oil companies are working towards that. One would have thought that it is only after they failed to meet the target that concerned groups or individuals would have resorted to a judicial process to end flaring," he added.
The suit was brought by the Iwerekan community in the Niger Delta against the government, the Nigerian arm of oil major Shell and the state oil company Nigerian National Petroleum Corp.
Gas is flared in the Niger Delta, where almost all of Nigeria's 2.4 million barrels per day of oil are pumped, because of a lack of facilities to exploit the resource commercially.
Giant orange flares burn around the clock in the vast region of mangrove swamps and creeks, many close to villagers' homes.
Campaigners say the flares endanger the health of people who live nearby and respiratory diseases such as asthma are rife in Niger Delta communities affected by flaring.
They also say flaring pollutes the environment, reduces crop yields, causes huge emissions of greenhouse gasses and damages quality of life because of constant noise, light and heat.
The government has set a 2008 target to end gas flaring, encouraging companies to use the gas for export as well as power generation within Nigeria.
Energy firms in the world's eighth biggest oil exporter have said that flaring will reduce significantly in the next two to three years when a number of huge gas projects are expected to come on stream.
"The communities should give credit to the government's aggressive effort to end flaring. I don't think anybody can move faster than we are doing because gas projects take a long time and require huge investments," said a spokesman for US energy giant Chevron, third largest producer in Nigeria.
"A number of large-scale gas projects are at various stages of completion. Nigeria will soon be using all the gas available and flaring will no longer be an issue," he added.
Shell has said it would miss the 2008 target because of funding problems and would stop routine flaring in 2009.
