Licensees who supply inaccurate data to the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) will be liable to a fine of N10 million, the Gas Flaring (Prohibition and Punishment) Bill passed by the Senate has prescribed.
The bill, which passed Third Reading at the Senate on Wednesday, however, proposed six-month imprisonment for offender or both.
Approval of the bill followed the clause-by-clause consideration of the report of the Committee on Gas at Wednesday plenary.
Among others, the bill seeks to ensure that natural gas shall not be flared or vented in any oil and gas production operation, block or field, onshore or onshore, or gas facility which shall commence operations after the commencement of the Act.
The bill also seeks to ensure that no operator shall establish an oil and gas facility in Nigeria without obtaining authorisation from the Minister of Petroleum for the design phase, the commissioning and the production phases.
