240 firms have submitted their statements of qualification to the Federal Government in a bid to commercialise gas flaring in Nigeria.
The firms handed in their statements of qualification following a request by authorities, as part of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme.
This was disclosed in an email sent by Mr Rabiu Suleiman, the Chairman of the Ministerial Steering Committee on the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme. According to him, the received statements of qualifications would be evaluated in June, even as results would be released four weeks afterwards.
“NGFCP is very pleased to advise that 240 SOQs (Statements of Qualification) were received. As you are aware, a Proposal Evaluation Committee and an Independent Observer Group have been appointed and inaugurated on the 11th of April, 2019 by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu.
“the PEC shall evaluate the SOQs submitted by the applicants to determine qualified applicant status in compliance with the design criteria of the request for qualification and also to evaluate the proposals that would be submitted by qualified applicant to determine those bidders that achieve preferred bidder and reserved bidders status.”
Why this matters: The Nigerian Gas Flaring Commercialisation Programme is a fundamental aspect of the Federal Government’s gas revolution initiative. The programme seeks to significantly reduce gas flaring significantly by exploiting it for economic purposes.
The programme is expected to encourage investments, create jobs (especially in the Niger Delta region), and ultimately facilitate economic development in the country.
More Insight: Note that the National Gas Policy was approved by the Federal Executive Council in June 2017. Its main objective is to ensure flare capture and utilisation. It is also expected to encourage industry collaboration and develop partners; including providers of flare-capture technologies and third-party investors.
Will it work this time? Note that this is not the first time efforts is being made to put an end to gas flaring along with the economic and environmental challenges that come with it. Last May, Nairametrics reported that world leading energy company, Vitol, has been in talks with stakeholders in Nigeria to monetise the country’s flared gas. One year later, nothing concrete has come out of those talks. Perhaps the story will be different this time around.
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