Impact of gas flaring on communities in Delta region of Nigeria, narrative review part 1: environmental health perspective

Abstract

<p class="abstract">Gas flaring is the combustion of associated gas from crude-oil exploitation and exploration operations and occurs in refineries, oil wells, oil rigs by fiery of the gas. Nigeria is one of the main producers of gas in the world and oil exploration activities have occasioned high rate of gas flaring because of poor enforcement of anti-gas flaring laws by the regulatory authorities. Gas flaring comes with serious environmental concern because it is a major source of air pollution with adverse public health consequences particularly in the gas flaring communities. The objective of this narrative review is to identify the risks associated with gas flaring in relation to the environment. Literatures from diverse databases including peer reviewed journals as well as governmental and organizational papers were searched to develop the narrative. Over the years, several laws have been enacted in Nigeria with stipulated dates to end gas flaring, but the targets have not been met. The Federal government of Nigeria updated the legal framework titled flare gas (prevention of waste and pollution) regulations, 2018 to facilitate financial profits through utilization and commercialization of associated gas, with a view to reduce or exterminate flaring. This effort appears ineffective due to weak enforcement and poor monitoring mechanism. The statutory government institution entrusted to enforce anti-gas law may benefit from some sort of motivation to ensure oil operators comply to combat environmental health risks from gas flaring.</p>

Sustainable Strategies in Onshore Gas Exploration: Incorporating Carbon Capture for Environmental Compliance

“…Mandatory environmental sustainability measures are compared between environmentally sensitive sectors like oil and gas and less sensitive sectors (Babangida & Kao'je, 2023). Research on the impact of gas flaring on communities underscores the risks associated with this practice and the need for mitigation strategies (Nkemdilim et al, 2021). Evaluating the economic and social value from gas flaring is crucial for addressing environmental concerns and maximizing benefits (Romsom & McPhail, 2021).…”

Impact of Gas Flare on Human Life and Wellbeing of Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State

“…Gas flaring activities is undertaken as a way to remove dangerous gases with lower harm to the environment by the multinational oil companies, safely regulating pressure in chemical plant, as well as handling natural gas releases in wells but the monitoring of this flare gas is a challenge in Nigeria, making it difficult to quantify the gases released during exploration and exploitation of petroleum product. According to [7], many of the flares in Niger Delta region do not have flare meters, leading to uncertainties on reported flared estimates of the total volume of gas. Authors like [8] [9] revealed that operators sometimes benefit from inadequate reporting of flare gas volume through financial, commercial and reputational favours, re-emphasizing the need for adequate monitoring, however, [10] recommends that ultrasonic meters are the most suitable type of meter for flare volume measurement and have been proposed for use in Nigeria.…”

Framework for Environmental Protection in Nigeria

“…The oil company still continue to engage in gas flaring because of the absence of plants and machinery to harness the reinjection of these gases during the production process. At the moment of new regulation is being approved known as flare Gas (prevention of waste and pollution) regulations 2018 (Obi, et al, 2021).…”