Gas Flaring: Reps Mull Legislation For Uniform Metering

The House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee, investigating gas flaring in the country from 2013 till date, has indicated plans to come up with legislation to ensure uniform meter for companies and regulators in the gas industry.

The Committee equally, asked international Oil Companies (IOCs)  to ensure that correct amounts of monies are paid as penalties for gas flaring into the federal government’s coffers.

The panel chaired by Hon. Ahmed Munir (APC, Kaduna) stated these at its resumed hearing at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja on Tuesday.

Munir observed that oil companies and officials of the Federal Ministry of Environment, seemed not to be doing much with regards to the volume of gas flared as investigation showed that the volume of gas flared, as claimed by oil companies, came as a surprise to government officials.

The lawmaker said one of the reasons for the investigative hearing was also to ensure synergy between the regulators and the oil companies with regards to the volume of gas flared, and how to address the issue.

He said: “The whole idea is to ensure that the gas industry, I mean everybody in this business has a meter, so we can get the actual amount of gas flared, and where there is no meter, how can the gas tracker come in to effectively fill the gap?

“The whole idea here is therefore what legislation, what policy can we craft, to ensure that it is not the players in the industry alone that brings out figures, regarding the volume of gas flared.”

“There should be checks and balances, and that is the whole idea of this hearing, we will listen and collate information, and we are going to act.”

The director general, National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), Idris Musa said metering was a key issue in the sector, stating that operators usually come up with different meters, making it difficult to determine the accurate volume of gas flared, and the appropriate penalties.

While calling for a benchmark for the regulators, Musa said: “That is the gray area the Committee should look into, it is not of Exxon Mobil alone, but all oil companies have to show that evidence.”

In his presentation, the vice chairman, Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited (MPN), Adesua Dozie said for the period under review, the oil major Exxon Mobil paid $129 million as fines for gas flaring while MPN paid $124.2 million into the federal government consolidated revenue account as penalty for gas flaring.

On this part, the manager reservoir, Chevron PLC, Chile Ogala told the Committee that the company paid a total of $72.66 as fines for gas flaring from 2012 till date.