An Assessment of the Role of Nigerian State in Enforcing Zero-Gas Flare Regime, 1979-2012: The Imperatives of Environmental Diplomacy

Abstract

Gas flared in association with the production of crude oil began in Nigeria under the British Colonial rule when Shell began oil production in 1958, and with the increasing production of oil, the volume of gas flared in the process of oil production increased. In Nigeria alone, gas flaring amounts to about 23 billion cubic metres per annum of the gas generated in association with crude oil production in over 100 flare sites, constituting over 13 percent of global gas flaring out of the over 150 billion cubic metres of natural gas flared and vented annually. This translates to greenhouse gas emission of 45 million tons of CO₂ out of the global total of 400 million tons annually. Even as the environmental effect of gas flaring is trans-boundary or global in terms of global warming and climate change, it has some negative environmental and health impacts on the immediate or local environment. Economically, Nigeria lost about $72 billion in revenue between 1970 and 2006 due to gas flaring; and currently, loses about $2.5 billion annually for flaring associated gas. The paradox is that the volume of gas flared annually in Nigeria can match the country’s energy need and resolve the energy crisis. Among other measures, Nigerian government has set various deadlines for elimination of gas flaring but none of these zero-gas flaring deadlines has been achieved. The paper concludes that this is due to rentier character of the Nigerian state, rentier mentality of the Nigerian rentier (ruling) class and rentierism of the Nigerian economy.

Keywords: Oil, gas flaring, zero-gas flare regime, rentierism, environmental diplomacy, Nigeria