The Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) generated $108 billion and paid $35 billion as dividend to its shareholders within the 21 years the company has operated.
Eyono Fatayi- Williams, LNG general manager, external relations and sustainable development, who disclosed this on Thursday while briefing the House of Representatives Committee on gas resources, said with the installed assets base of $ 11 billion, the company has in the last 21 years paid $8 billion taxes.
Fatayi-Williams also stated that the company within the year under review delivered over 5000 cargoes around the world with 23 dedicated ships and installed six LNG trains with 22 million tons capacity at Bonny Island.
Making clarifications on gas flaring in the country, she said: “In the early days of Nigeria exploring crude, 65 percent of the gas that is produced with crude exploration was flared.
“The intervention was to have LNG plant that would utilise that otherwise flared gas to reduce gas flaring and bring about a cleaner environment. We are proud to say that today, less than 12 percent of the gas that is produced with crude is flared. It’s a significant reduction”.
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Fatayi-Williams said Nigeria is currently rated 9th in the world with 200 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of proven gas reserves, stressing that the 600 TCF of unproven gas reserves, if monetised, Nigeria would rank 4th globally in gas reserves.
She also said the World Bank data showed about 100,000 Nigerians die annually due to firewood smoke inhalation and related complications mostly women and children, and called for the use of gas for cooking.
“If you compare this with the number of people who have died of COVID-19 complication which is less than 2000 as reported by NCDC, very little is said about the 100,000 who die of firewood and smoke.
“The use of firewood is a double edge sword, it is not only leading to a significant number of death, we also know that cutting timber for firewood leads to deforestation, which later leads to desertification”.
Earlier, Tony Attah, managing director/CEO of NLNG, sought the partnership of the parliament to exploit the abundant potential in the gas sector to boost Nigeria’s economy.
He said there are many countries Nigeria can look up to in terms of what gas can do like in Quarta, Trinidad and Tubego and in the Netherlands.
“We are ready to partner with your committee to bring about that progress that is required to unleash the potentials of gas. We have the potential to become number four in the world, we have 200 TCF proven and we know of 600 TCF unproven; if we prove that, Nigeria will become fourth in the world.
“Because of the changing energy mix, the world is moving from dirty to clean energy; by 2050, there will be nine billion people in the world. Today we have about seven billion, so it is like adding one new India and China to the world; where will the energy come from?
“So there is that dilemma, the world will need more energy. Clean, cheaper and gas has offered itself not only as a transition fuel but also a destination fuel. We see gas as food because of its role in fertiliser production, we see gas as employment, we see gas industry, power and transport as most countries have trains and cars running on gas”, he said.
Nicholas Mutuh, chairman of the House committee, said the legislators were keen about promoting optimisation of resources by the utilisation of by-products to enhance the gas value chain and create opportunities for those in the downstream of the value chain.
