Bank plan to burn less oil rig gas may help poor
Date: 02-Sep-02
Country: SOUTH AFRICA
Launching the scheme at the Johannesburg Earth Summit, World Bank Managing Director Peter Woicke said although some oil companies already had to cut their own gas burning, evocative of oil fields and known as 'flaring', the new scheme would build on this and help the environment too.
"If we can reduce gas flaring we will make a major commitment to the environment," he said. "Were the flaring of gas in Africa alone to be used for power generation in efficient power plants, this could produce approximately 50 percent of the current power consumption of the African continent."
Gas flaring is not only a waste of an otherwise fairly clean fuel, but the inefficiency of the process can result in the release of methane, a greenhouse gas approximately 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide and blamed for global warming.
Philip Watts, Chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell, said the new partnership, involving public and private money, would help bring on board companies who had not managed to make much progress in reducing their gas wastage.
"Some companies have been more progressive than others," he said. "This is an opportunity to share best practices."
They also said the initiative would explore using the gas saved as a cheap and clean fuel for small-scale use in local communities.
Despite commitments by governments and companies, the level of gas flaring has remained virtually constant over the last 20 years, according to a World Bank report.
Over 100 billion cubic metres of gas are flared every year, equivalent to almost 600 Tera Watt hours of energy, or about one and a half times the amount used in Africa.