The video was produced around 2006 i guess. So much for rule of law. Our leaders are too greedy and insensitive. Shell is wicked and despicable, that's all I can say. Their bosses would be rotting in jail if they did this in their own country. This is what the likes of CNN would not show the world.

It's a long video so might take a while to load depending on your internet speed.

This is the link:
http://www.poisonfire.org/poison-fire-movie

But I think this one loads faster.
http://blip.tv/play/AcKrLAA

Great documentary.

I've seen this before.
It's a pity we are so eager to choke down untruths.

It's pretty daft for people not to ask a very basic question:

Gas is expensive, so why will the oil companies deliberately flare gas if they can make some extra money from it?


Nigerians are not willing to pay the cost of ending gas flaring. That is the problem.

Nigeria already has an LNG project going on, lack of NNPC funding has slowed it down though, LNG projects in nigeria are falling behind schedule due to security concerns. surprise surprise

The gas being flared around the clock in the Niger Delta, if tapped and piped to the rest of the country, could EASILY suffice for the cooking needs of every household in Nigeria, eliminating the the demand for firewood, which is a major causative factor in the ongoing rampant and unrestricted deforestation that will one day soon turn Nigeria into a barren and gully-eroded wasteland with absolutely no trees, as is the case in Haiti, where people are now reduced to digging up the rapidly vanishing dead roots of long ago destroyed trees and shrubs, in order to cook a meal.

@Tex

when you say Nigerians, do you mean the Federal government, Odili et al or 'Ateke boys'?

I read in the Wall Street Journal that the gas that is being wasted could be used to provide electricity for almost all of Sub Saharan Africa.

The Fed. govt. knew this and gave Rivers State money for the project but Odilli embezzled it. Also, it would cost a lot lot more for them (Shell and Nigeria) to build a gas refinery so they just flare it, which is just fine and convinient for them.

Jakumo, you are sooooooooooooo on point about that, i saw a documentary on Haiti on PBS. It is soooooo sad.

o my people where is our government? chie when black man go get sense?

Also, it would cost a lot lot more for them (Shell and Nigeria) to build a gas refinery so they just flare it, which is just fine and convinient for them.

why would a thrillion dollar corporation like shell avoid an investment opportunity like natural gas because of cost?? the problem is more on NNPC's end who have troubling paying up their share of the joint venture. foreign companies won't undergo projects if government delays funding

Jakumo:

The gas being flared around the clock in the Niger Delta, if tapped and piped to the rest of the country, could EASILY suffice for the cooking needs of every household in Nigeria, eliminating the the demand for firewood, which is a major causative factor in the ongoing rampant and unrestricted deforestation that will one day soon turn Nigeria into a barren and gully-eroded wasteland with absolutely no trees, as is the case in Haiti, where people are now reduced to digging up the rapidly vanishing dead roots of long ago destroyed trees and shrubs, in order to cook a meal.

When you make statements like this, please note that the word 'tapped' entails

1. An investment of tens of billions of dollars, shared by the oil companies and the federal government.
2. A commitment to peace by the hostile communities of the Niger Delta to enable the neccessary construction waork to take place
3. A commitment by Nigerians - the federal, state and local governments to lay gas mains so natural gas can be piped to houses for cooking. Ordinary Nigerians will neccessarily have to retrofit their existing cookers to run with natural gas.

Even with these, local consumption alone will not take all the gas. So the Nigerian government needs to set aside billions of dollars to build a few more gas plants.



The only sure way to stop gas flaring RIGHT NOW is to shut in all the oil wells that are producing gas. Which is pretty much every oil field that does not have expensive gas gathering and compression stations. This probably means closing in at least 3/4 of Nigeria's oil production.

As we all know, oil acounts for 90% + of our income. So with only 1/4 of our current production, what would happen to our economy?

Here's a thought. Gather all the biggest activists, all the fat cats in Abuja and Lagos. Ask them a simple question:

"Would you be willing to take an 80% cut in your salaries/income so we can stop flaring gas this instant?"

Peace in the Niger Delta will of course be essential before any construction project can be undertaken there, and all future plans for exploiting rather than wasting the gas will be contingent on the declaration of some sort of armistice in the area. 

The billion dollar cost of piping the Niger Delta gas could easily be covered by the income from oil exports, which also depend entirely an end to hostilities in the area, so you speak the truth, Tex, with your observation that gas will continue to be flared in the Niger Delta for the forseeable future.