THE Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) has stated that it has been able to reduce gas flaring in Nigeria from about 70 per cent to less than 20 per cent.

The General Manager, External Relations, NLNG, Dr Kudo Eresia-Eke, said: “Crude oil exploration was never achieved in isolation but with associated gases. Nigeria did not explore for gas but crude oil, so the gas becomes a nuisance because you have to get rid of the gas before you get to the oil.

“So you must find a way to get rid of it. That’s why we flare. One of the reasons for establishing the NLNG is to convert waste to wealth by converting gas flare to cash. Right now, gas flare has reduced to less 20 per cent from about 70 per cent.”

On domestic gas pricing, Eresia-Eke stated further that the NLNG was not primarily into domestic gas policy but strictly for export.

“NLNG Act stipulates that we should produce for export but we only dedicated certain percentage for domestic LPG market as a responsible corporate citizen.

“When the refineries, that used to be the main source of LPG supplies to the domestic market, were down, Nigeria resulted into importing petroleum products including LPG.

“But as a corporate entity, we were asked to start supplying LPG to the markets through the off-takers,” he said.

He attributed cost of logistics to high cost of cooking gas in the market.