With increasing global outcry against gas flaring and its attendant danger to humans, livestock and vegetation, TotalEnergies has announced that was working to end gas flaring by end of 2023.

The company’s Deputy Managing Director, Deep Water Operations, Victor Bandele announced the targeted flare out on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at the ongoing Nigeria International Energy Summit (NIES) holding at the International Conference Centre (ICC), Abuja.

Bandele informed that his company’s action plan, especially, on renewable energy is fully on course, noting that its gas flaring profile had not exceeded five percent of its production output, revealing that the flare out was something the company had been working on, stressing that “the effort did not start today, we can announce this today”.

Speaking as member of a high-powered panel of industry leaders on the theme: “Building Energy for the Future”, Bandele stated that the corporation has taken a lot of actions in all its facilities, all in agreement with TotalEnergies 2050 global target, positing that the biggest target is on solar initiatives and other renewable energy projects.

The DMD said there is full utilization of all facilities, further informing that the IOC deliberately acquired the biggest solar power supply company in the world, as part of plans to boost its activities in renewable energy.

The deep water expert admitted that solar is the new energy and gas is a critical energy source, stating that TotalEnergies has thus challenged the industry to consume gas, saying that the company has only one onshore oil well and that the community has full power supply for about 25 years, disclosing that 50% of their 550 filling stations now run on solar power.

Asserting that the ‘Decade of Gas’ is here to stay and that TotalEnergies has pushed hard in all its portfolios in gas, stated that “we have launched all projects that will take care of our needs. TotalEnergies is present in some other countries in Africa such as Cameroon, Egypt, Togo”.

Bandele challenged Nigerians to go beyond rhetoric and start acting on listed items one after the other, noting that “Nigeria is the cornerstone of energy in Africa. We have the experience and human resources. It’s time to harness it. The world will ask to come to Nigeria in the coming years, out of necessity”.  

The highlight of Day 3 at NIES was the flag off of hightech exhibitions by industry player after his keynote remarks.