FG fails to recover N13.33bn gas flaring fines

<p>The Federal Government recorded a revenue shortfall of N13.33bn from gas flaring penalties issued against oil and gas firms in January and February 2023, according to findings by The PUNCH.</p>, <p>Earlier, The PUNCH reported that the Federal Government would impose $49m (N22bn) fine on oil and gas firms operating onshore for flaring 24 billion Standard Cubic Feet of gas valued at about N40bn ($86m) between January and February 2023.</p>, <p>This was according to a recent gas flare data by the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency, which noted that the companies operating onshore would pay the penalties for violating the gas flaring rule.</p>, <p>“Companies operating onshore flared 24.5 billion SCF of gas valued at $85.8m, with $49m penalties payable,” the agency wrote.</p>, <p>The report said companies flared 19.14 billion SCF of gas in January and 14.04 billion SCF of gas in February 2023, contributing 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission, with power generation potential of 2,500 gigawatts hours.</p>, <p>On the other hand, companies operating offshore flared 25.8 billion SCF of gas valued at $90m; capable of generating 2,600 gigawatts hours of electricity and had an equivalent of 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emission.</p>, <p>In particular, the offshore companies flared 10.84 billion SCF and 13.09 billion SCF of gas in January and February 2023, respectively. NOSDRA did not state how much penalties offshore companies would pay for the flare.</p>, <p>However, findings by the PUNCH showed that the Federal Government did not get up to N22bn from gas flaring penalties in January and February.</p>, <p>Data from the quarterly statistical bulletin for the first quarter of 2023 by the Central Bank of Nigeria showed that the Federal Government earned N4.6bn in January and N4.07bn in February.</p>, <p>This means that a total of N8.67bn was earned between January and February 2023, leaving a shortfall of N13.33bn.</p>, <p>Gas is burnt off or flared as part of the oil production process. Howe