Black Looks blogs on the situation in the Niger Delta and posts a video:
In 2005, the High Court declared gas flaring illegal yet both the Nigerian government and oil multinationals have ignored the court ruling. Last year the Nigerian government once again promised to stop all gas flaring on the 1st January this year – a promise that goes back nearly 40 years. Companies defying the order were to be shut down. Once again the government has shown complete disregard and insensitivity to the communities in the Niger Delta and given into pressure from Shell, Chevron, Elf etc. The date has now been set for the end of the year but no one really believes that the government will once again bow to the oil multinationals.
[Hat Tip: Change Seeker]
In case anyone else (like me) wondered “what on earth is gas flaring, why do they do it, and why wouldn’t they want to stop doing it?” here’s a basic explanation I found online:
“Gas flaring in Nigeria
Nigeria’s oil wealth has been exploited for more than 45 years. But while oil companies including Shell, ExxonMobil and TotalFinaElf, have profited from the resource, local communities in the oil rich but conflict-riven areas live with the daily pollution caused by non-stop gas flaring – where the gas associated with oil extraction is burnt off into the atmosphere. More gas is flared in
Nigeria than anywhere else in the world – in western Europe 99 per cent of associated gas is used or re-injected into the ground. But in Nigeria, despite regulations introduced more than 20 years ago to outlaw the practice, most associated gas is flared, causing local pollution and contributing to climate change. This briefing looks at the background to gas flaring and the environmental and health risks.
Background
Nigeria is Africa’s most populated country, with significant oil, and even more gas, reserves. Most of its oil and gas is exported, whilst most of its people live in poverty. Oil production began in the Niger Delta about 45 years ago and so did the practice of flaring associated gas. The waste involved in the practice, and the expected controversy, was recognised early on. Following the oil-fuelled 1967-1970 civil war, the industry developed via joint ventures with the government’s Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation in which companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil, ChevronTexaco and TotalFinaElf are the operators, but hold minority interests.
The development of the oil industry continued during the 16 years Nigeria spent under military rule, and Nigeria has become a major source of oil for the developed world, currently supplying 10 per cent of Shell’s global output. According to the CIA’s World Factbook, the oil sector provides 20% of Nigeria’s
GDP, 95% of foreign exchange earnings, and about 65% of budgetary revenues. But Nigeria still ranks as one of the poorest 30 countries in the world, with 60 per cent of the population estimated to be living below the poverty line.
There is confusion over how much oil and associated gas is produced in Nigeria. The most recent and independent information source suggests that over 3.5 billion standard cubic feet (scf) of associated gas was produced in 2000, of which more than 70 per cent was burnt off, ie flared. As oil production has increased, Nigeria has become the world’s biggest gas flarer, both proportionally and absolutely, with around 2 billion scf, perhaps 2.5 billion scf, a day being flared. This is equal to about 25 per cent of the UK’s gas consumption.The single biggest flarer is the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (SPDC). A recent report estimates flaring to represent an annual economic loss to the country of about US $2.5 billion.
The Environmental Impacts
According to the World Bank, by 2002 flaring in the country had contributed more greenhouse gases to the Earth’s atmosphere than all other sources in sub-Saharan Africa combined – and yet this gas is not being used as a fuel. Nobody benefits from the energy it contains. As such, it is a serious but unnecessary contributor to climate change, the impacts of which are already being felt in the region with food insecurity, increasing risk of disease and the rising costs of extreme weather damage. Local communities living around the gas flares – and many are close to villages and agricultural land – rely on
wood for fuel and candles for light.
The flares also contain widely-recognised toxins, such as benzene, which pollute the air. Local people complain of respiratory problems such as asthma and bronchitis. According to the US government, the flares contribute to acid rain and villagers complain of the rain corroding their buildings. The particles
from the flares fill the air, covering everything with a fine layer of soot. Local people also complain about the roaring noise and the intense heat from the flares. They live and work alongside the flares with no protection.
General flaring was made illegal under regulations in 1984, and only allowed in specific circumstances on a field-by-field basis pursuant to a ministerial certificate. None of these certificates have been made public. President Obasanjo has agreed to put back the 2004 “flares-out” deadline to 2008.”
Great comment. You really contributed greatly to this blog post.