The United States government has expressed its willingness to support Nigeria in its quest to end gas flaring.
This assurance was given by the US special envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs, Ambassador Carlos Pascual, recently at the 2nd Energy and Investment Working Group meeting in Abuja.
Pascual stated that the US was willing to support the country in its desire to eliminate gas flaring or reduce it to the barest minimum, noting that reducing the excessive amount of gas flared in the country would do a lot to improve power as the gas saved from flaring could be channeled for use at the power plants.
“Nigeria flares gas which could be used to produce electricity and significantly reduce the emissions of greenhouse gas and mitigate climate change,” he said.
While stating that the United States government has noted the impressive efforts of the Nigerian government to implement reform in the energy industry, he maintained that Nigeria’s economic growth was constrained by insufficient electricity generation capacity resulting to business leakages.
“The situation has resulted into business leakages where indigenous and foreign companies have relocated to neighbouring countries as the cost of doing business in Nigeria was no longer profitable,” Pascual said.
He averred that the Nigerian power sector has operated largely under a vertically integrated inefficient monopoly, stating that the insufficient generation and supply of electricity was caused by low and unsustainable investments by the government over the years.
“We want to assure of our cooperation to deepen and broaden such reform that would enhance the opportunities within the industry and enable the country maximise its resources for the benefit of the citizens” he said.
He said Nigeria as one of the world’s biggest producer of oil, has a large role to play in ensuring that the increasing global demand of oil was met, especially with the expansion of global economies of countries like India, China and Brazil.
“We recognise the importance of working with the ministry of petroleum resources to create a platform for increased long-term investments in the petroleum sector, especially in the face of increasing demand for energy across the world,” the envoy added.
In his remarks, the permanent secretary, ministry of petroleum resources and head of Nigeria’s delegation, Engr. Goni Sheikh, assured the American delegation of Nigeria’s readiness to provide all necessary guarantees and support to investors and partners towards ensuring the establishment of an improved regulatory framework aimed at boosting power supply in the country.?