Royal Dutch Shell said on Wednesday it planned to spend $2 billion upgrading and replacing its gas gathering facilities at 26 locations in Nigeria's Niger Delta in order to reduce flaring. Gas flares burn day and night from onshore oilfields in the Niger Delta, one of the world's biggest wetlands, creating a health hazard to nearby communities and contributing to global warming, environmentalists say. Shell's SPDC joint venture in Nigeria said the projects, many of them previously delayed by funding or security problems, would lead to more than three quarters of its production potential being covered by gas gathering facilities. The gas would then be available for use in power stations and by industry in Africa's biggest energy producer, which often suffers from power cuts. "Security and funding conditions permitting, we have a real chance to progress our flaring reduction plans through these key projects," SPDC Managing Director Mutiu Sunmonu was quoted as saying by Reuters. Nigeria flares (burns off) more gas than any other country except Russia, burning as much as 2.5 billion cubic feet of gas per day because it lacks the infrastructure to make use of it.
