With the support of the
National Assembly, Nigeria intends to sign the United Nations Agreement on Zero
Routing Gas Flaring by 2030, according to Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo,
SAN.
Moreover, Prof. Osinbajo
disclosed that the federal government has indeed set an earlier national target
of 2020 to end gas flaring in the country.
Speaking today at the
opening of the 6th African Petroleum Congress and Exhibition
where he represented President Muhammadu Buhari, the Vice President , who
declared the conference opened, said ending gas flaring was an imperative for
African oil producers considering the amount of waste involved. But he also
called on African countries to take advantage of the gas-to-power
potentials.
He 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."
Continuing, he stated that
“it’s time to take a much further stand on gas flaring, both from environmental
and a waste-of-needed-resources perspectives," the Vice President
stated to the gathering composed of oil and energy ministers from several
African countries and chieftains in the oil and gas sector.
The Vice President
explained 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."
According to him, of the
over 150 billion cubit metres of associated gas is flared annually in the
world, "Africa flares an estimated 40 billion cubit metres, while 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), and also the highest quality.
Addressing legislators,
policy makers and oil and gas industry experts from around the continent at the
International Conference Centre in Abuja, Prof. 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, while also adding that “a common approach to local content will
ensure that the whole of Africa benefit from economy of scale associated with
vast resources.”
Besides, he said 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."
Vice President Osinbajo
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 springs of industries elsewhere.”
Expressing the need for
African oil producing countries to take their destiny in their hands, Prof.
Osinbajo challenged 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”, he submitted, recalling Nigeria’s active involvement in the
West African pipeline project expected to deliver clean, safe natural gas from
Nigeria to countries in the sub-region.
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,
the Honourable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and President of
APPA, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu stated that the conference was timely coming at a
critical period when the industry was experiencing price volatility. He
observed that the situation is of global concern threatening oil and gas
investments, but also creating opportunities for new energy sources.
At the opening ceremony
of conference were members of the National Assembly, Honourable Ministers and
members of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, from Nigeria including the
Communication Minister, Mr. Adebayo Shittu, the Minister of State for Health,
Dr. Osagie Ehanire, and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr.
Babachir Lawal. The Executive Secretary of the association, Engr. Mohaman Gaya,
envoys as well as local and international Petroleum Industry chieftains and
experts were also in attendance.
FOR MORE STORIES VISIT CKN NEWS SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS:
Twitter: @CKNNigeria
Facebook: CKNNigeria
CKN NEWS Hotline: 08080054001
Whatsapp: 08099677755
BBM : 2BE329DF
Website: www.cknnigeria.com
Tags
Politics