Page:Niger Delta Ecosystems- the ERA Handbook, 1998.djvu/158

The Resources of the Niger Delta: Minerals 14.6.2 NATURAL GAS AND NIGERIA

Following the former USSR, Iran and Northwest Europe, Nigeria has some of the largest proven reserves of natural gas in the world at about 3 trillion cubic metres, some 2% of world reserves. As with oil, Nigerian natural gas is especially valued because of its low sulphur content.

No one seems to be really sure what is the total Nigerian natural gas production, but it seems to be in the order of 22-25 billion cubic metres a year. Around 18 billion cubic metres of this is associated gas, most of which is flared, although a small amount is re-injected into the sandstone sponge, and even less is sold to electricity generating stations and industrial users. About 3 billion cubic metres per year of non-associated gas is currently tapped for industrial uses.

14.6.3 PROCESSING NATURAL GAS IN NIGERIA

In summary, having spoken to a number of oil industry sources, ERA estimates that natural gas from the Niger Delta is processed at the following rates.

The waste through flaring is prodigious, annually equalling about 45% of the energy requirements of France, the world's fourth largest economy. The obvious solution to the waste would seem to be the development of markets for the desirable low-sulphur gas and/or re-injection into the sandstone sponge until such a market is developed.

An array of technical, geographical and financial factors do not make for an easy solution. Nonetheless efforts are being made to commercially exploit the gas, which point to future scenarios: four examples are given below. 156