ROYAL Dutch Shell has said it is rolling out a programme to end gas flaring in its Nigerian operations. To this end, the company says it is set to commit an additional $2 billion for this purpose, bringing the total to $5 billion in the next two years.
Mutiu Sunmonu, country chair of Shell companies in Nigeria, and managing director of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), stated at the Nigeria’s Golden Jubilee Business Summit in London last week that the company has so far committed $3billion on the project. Sunmonu further revealed that apart from Shell’s commitment to end the flaring, which has destroyed much of farmlands and streams in the Niger Delta, the company is contributing between 75 to 80 per cent of domestic gas requirements in Nigeria and has contributed about $45billion to government revenue in the last five years. Shell and other oil companies operating in the country have largely flared the associated gas in the course of crude oil exploration and production in the country.
Successive governments have been too lenient to oil companies and would not enforce its law, part of which includes the withdrawal of operating licence.  Various dates had been touted in the past as last flare-out dates but the oil companies had always managed to get an extension when the dates are due. The last flare-out date was supposed to be December 31, 2008. This too was not enforced.