Upsetting the Offset - Transnational Institute

Cases
the reach of community people, contrary to the mandatory provisions of the
Nigerian Environmental Impact Assessment Act No 86 of 1992. Community
members expressed serious reservations which culminated in a legal challenge of
the project at the Federal High Court of Nigeria.
After the WAGP, other Nigerian oil operators have continued to make
carbon credit claims, presenting the same flawed arguments as did Chevron.
Significantly, Eni-Agip, an Italian transnational oil corporation, attempts to
disapprove Nigerian law in its presentation to the CDM, maintaining that ‘whilst
the Nigerian Federal High Court recently judged that gas flaring is illegal, it is
difficult to envisage a situation where wholesale changes in practice in venting
or flaring, or cessation of oil production in order to eliminate flaring will be
forthcoming in the near term.’ 18 Eni-Agip blames, ‘commercial and industrial
risks and political uncertainty’ for failures to make ‘investments’ to end
associated gas flaring. However, what is lacking in Eni-Agip’s argument is the
analysis of their own role in promoting instability and local dislocation, or how
new gas infrastructure projects would contribute to exacerbating local tensions
as issues of resource control and community land rights have not been resolved.
Like the WAGP, Eni-Agip presents an application to the CDM for its
projects for the recovery of associated gas that would otherwise be flared at the
Kwale oil-gas processing plant by the ‘capture and utilization of the majority of
associated gas previously sent to flaring at the Kwale plant (Kwale OGPP).’
According to the Eni-Agip, ‘large portion’ of associated gas produced from the
five oil fields in Oil Mining Lease 60 (Ahaka, Beniku, Okpai, Kwale, Irri-Isoko)
has been flared upon separation from the oil at the Kwale flow station. This
practice according to the company is due to the ‘absence of any economically
viable, commercial or other outlet for this gas.’ Eni-Agip claims that its Kwale
gas plant ‘will not increase GHG emissions in Nigeria’. 19
But questions that Eni-Agip, like Chevron (on WAGP), cannot answer are
the actual mix of associated and non associated gas that is transported by the
network of pipelines and flowlines at Oil Mining Lease 60 or that is actually to
be processed at the Kwale gas complex. As mentioned above, a gas complex
contains gas gathering and processing infrastructure. As oil fields (with
associated gas) exist side by side with non-associated gas fields, gas processing
plants could collect both associated and non-associated gas. Lack of clarity of
the actual mix of associated and non-associated gas makes it impossible to
validate claims that projects would lead to reduction of associated gas flaring. In
fact, apart from the mention of 170,000 barrels of oil per day produced by Eni-
Agip, there are no figures of current gas production and flaring in Ahaka,
Beniku, Okpai, Kwale and Irri-Isoko area (OML 60) in Eni-Agip’s
documentation related to the CDM.
Conclusion
Oil companies and the Nigerian government obfuscate data on associated gas
flaring by presenting mixed figures of associated and non-associated gas. While
figures provided by the government suggest a reduction of gas flaring, the actual
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