By Damilola Shittu According to Dada Thomos, the President of the Nigeria Gas Association (NGA), over the last 10 years Nigeria has managed to reduce gas flaring from two billion cubic feet per day to 700 million cubic feet per day, resulting in 65% improvement. Thomos revealed this at a briefing announcing the fourth coming NGA International gas conference and exhibition to be held in Abuja in October. “Even, 700cfpd is too much as that could generate 3,000 megawatts of power and we are flaring such on daily basis. Let's turn it into zero, value and let us clean up the environment,” he stressed. Outlining strategies needed to grow the gas sector, Thomos advised the government to take proactive steps to accelerate the process of concluding the Petroleum Industry Governance and Fiscal Bills and signing them into law, to attract investment in the oil and gas sector. He also pointed out that the association has come a long way in its quest to contribute to the development of the Nigerian gas industry and to ensure the right policy environment for the realisation of this goal. Read more: Gov gazette the approved gas flaring regulation Thomos highlighted that NGA proactively initiated programmes and activities to engage government policymakers and the investing public. What about natural gas Thomas said: “Natural gas revolution is the most significant energy thing in decades of the regional development. The implications of this revolution, with a particular focus on what it means for the West Africa region is important for our industry and the regional economy to grasp. “The industry in the past decade has developed and perfected the technology needed to unlock gas from places previously assumed to be out of reach, and natural gas will be a far bigger player in meeting the country's future energy challenge than had previously assumed.” In conclusion, he said: “But to unlock the potentials, the right environment should be created by government through addressing lapses in the existing laws, by ensuring that the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill, PIGB, is accented to by the president.”
