The Federal Government, on Friday, said its target to ensure Nigeria exit gas flaring next year at its oil fields still stands.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, who stated this, on Friday, in Abuja, added that companies who flare gas after 2020 would be punished.
He, however, explained that the target was not sacrosanct but self-imposed so as to quickly end the practice ahead of the 2030 deadline the United Nations had set for countries to end it.
The minister spoke at a press briefing shortly after inaugurating committees to take charge of the next phase of the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP).
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The Federal Government in 2016 launched the NGFCP programme with the objective to eliminate gas flaring through gas utilization projects developed by third-party investors who will be invited to participate in a competitive and transparent bid process.
The committees inaugurated yesterday are expected to take charge of the next phase of the NGFCP after interested bidders submitted their Statements of Qualification (SOQs).
The chairman of the ministerial steering committee for the NGFCP, Engr. Rabiu Suleiman, stated in his presentation that 38 new flare sites were discovered by the programme to bring the total number of flare sites in Nigeria to 178, when the earlier documented 140 in the database of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) are added.
