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International Oil Companies (IOCs) and their indigenous oil firms counterparts have defaulted to the tune of $3.6 billion gas flare penalty,Deputy Managing Director of Falcon Corporation,Mrs. Audrey Joe-Ezigbo has said
She said the $3.6 billion gas flare payment default represents eight billion standard cubic feet(scf) of gas flared in the last nine years.
She disclosed that the eight billion scf flared in nine years could have generated about 180,000 gig of electricity to improve the nation’s economy.
Ezigbo,who who spoke at a panel session on ‘‘Fortifying the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry for Economic Stability and Growth’’ at the Nigerian Oil and Gas(NOG) conference in Abuja,also said that last year,gas producers flared about 1.24 billion scf of gas.
She said:‘‘You could have imagined how much electricity that could have generated in an economy of ours that is so much in need of electricity’’.
According to her, though gas flare numbers have dropped to about 11 per cent, the 11 per cent drop could still have generated some quantum of electricity if not flared.
Meanwhile,Association of Power Generation Companies, (APGC)has said 135 one hundred of the 160 power generation licenses issued by the Nigerian Regulatory Commission(NERC) are currently dormant.
Its Executive Secretary,Joy Ogaji, said this during a panel session at the Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG) Conference and Exhibition in Abuja,where she also revealed only 25 of the operating licenses are active.
She said not all of the current capacity is being utilised by GenCos due to various challenges.
She “NERC has issued 160 licences to power generation companies. Only 25 are operational currently. The other thermal stations are waiting on the sidelines and if they are actively involved, we can generate an additional 30,000MW.The 25 plants that are currently operating have a combined installed capacity of over 13,000MW and they have an available capacity, which has dropped.As at last year we were almost hitting an available capacity of 9,000MW but a lot of challenges have now dropped it to, as of this morning, above 6,000MW.
She disclosed that as at privatisation on November 1, 2013, power was slightly above 3,400MW but as at last year, the available capacity had been ramped up to nearly 9,000MW.
She added :“So we had an available capacity of 9,000MW last year, but this year it is now 6,000MW and even the 6,000MW we are not utilising all of it.”
Ogaji noted that the three hydropower plants — Kainji, Jebba and Shiroro — with an installed capacity of 1,500MW were also not being optimally utilised.
She said the take-off of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) had made it imperative for Nigeria to fix its power sector to make its companies able to compete with their counterparts across the continent.
Ogaji identifies gas supply constraints as one of the major challenges facing GenCos and responsible for the drop in power generation.
She said that this could be solved if the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) agrees to supply 60 percent of the gas needed by the GenCos.
Ogaji explained that the move would enable the sector to achieve its vision of generating 30,000MW by 2030, with 3,000MW coming from renewables and 27,000MW from the power plants.
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