Chevron Promises Clean Gas, Says No More Gas Flaring

Chevron Nigeria Limited has promised a ‘zero’ gas flaring operation in the years ahead, as the world marks this year’s World Environment Day (WED), meant to raise global awareness of the need to take positive environmental action and the importance of preserving our biodiversity; one of Nigeria’s oil majors,

The over 50 years of oil exploration in Nigeria, gas flaring has become one of the country’s biggest environment disasters.

Oil producing communities face the brunt of environmental hazards like acid rains which destroys farmalands, homes and contaminate rivers and streams.

But at events to mark this years event with the theme: Think, Eat, Save, Chevron promise the nation it has already taken steps by investing in technologies that would improve its operational efficiency.

Andrew Fawthrop, chairman and managing drector, Chevron Nigeria Limited reiterated the company’s commitment to the responsible treatment of the environment as a condition for doing business anywhere adding that its long term partnership the Nigerian Conservative Foundation (NCF) is a clear demonstration of that commitment.

“We have a record of responsible environmental stewardship everywhere we operate and have also established enduring partnerships with governments, non–governmental organizations, business organizations and communities. These partnerships and efforts have been recognized and rewarded within and outside the country,” said Fawthrop.
The 2013 theme Think, Eat, Save has been chosen to raise global awareness on depleting natural resources for food and energy in spite of the world population which is growing geometrically.

The 2013 theme is apt as it builds on the global campaign of the same title launched earlier this year by UNEP, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and partners, to reduce food waste and loss.

It strongly emphasizes the importance of protecting our planet and promotes an understanding that each individuals as well as organizations can play significant and effective roles in tackling environmental issues.

Fawthrop stated that Chevron Nigeria has has developed and is implementing strategy toward eliminating flared gas. “The strategies,” he noted, “ include the three-phased Escravos Gas Project (EGP), the Escravos Gas-to-Liquids project (EGTL) and the West African Gas Pipeline project (WAGP), are all aimed at ending routine gas flaring in its operations, while delivering other important values for Nigeria, NNPC, and for CNL. The Agbami project was also developed with zero flare.”

According to him, Chevron has upgraded all its production facilities to ensure that they maintain their high level of safety and efficiency.

 This platform upgrade project modernized the older installations to bring them to the highest international safety standards.

The gains from the upgrade include cleaner effluent discharge from the production platforms, with performance consistently surpassing the statutory limits.

Chevron, he added is a member of the Clean Nigeria Association and the Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL) of the United Kingdom, two co-operatives through which members pool resources to combat spills that cannot be handled by the individual companies. CNL continues to hold a leadership position in the association