Nigeria has taken an vital step in direction of bettering transparency in its oil and fuel sector by publishing company-level greenhouse fuel emissions data for the first time.
The disclosure, launched by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) in its 2023 oil and gas audit report, is anticipated to assist residents, regulators and buyers perceive how a lot air pollution firms emit and whether or not the nation is making progress in direction of its local weather commitments.
However, an impartial overview of the data has recognized a number of points that will undermine confidence within the disclosures if left unresolved.
Using the Emissions Monitoring and Accountability Tool (EMAT), an interactive platform that organises and compares emissions data printed by NEITI, this evaluation discovered repeated emissions figures throughout completely different firms, missing methane info, and inconsistencies within the variety of firms reported as having submitted emissions data.
The findings don’t counsel wrongdoing by any firm. Rather, they spotlight areas the place Nigeria’s emissions reporting framework may very well be strengthened to enhance transparency, data high quality and public confidence.
Repeated emissions figures
One of probably the most putting observations is that Chevron Nigeria Limited and the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) reported precisely the identical methane emissions figures for 2022.
Both firms reported 173,578,759.2 kilograms of carbon dioxide equal (CO₂e) and 6,943,150.368 kilograms of methane.
The values are an identical throughout just about all reported fields aside from halons.
The figures seem in Appendix 12 of NEITI’s 2022 and 2023 Oil and Gas Industry Reports, which include Nigeria’s first publicly obtainable company-level greenhouse fuel disclosures.
This grew to become instantly seen as a result of EMAT permits customers to match firm data facet by facet, an identical figures that could be tough to note in static tables.
The Chevron-SPDC entries usually are not remoted circumstances.
Another instance is Aradel Holdings Plc, which reported precisely the identical methane values in each 2022 and 2023: 133,522,033 kilograms CO₂e and 5,340,877 kilograms of methane.
Similarly, Network E&P reported 112 kilograms CO2e and three.64 kilograms methane in each reporting years.
Repeated figures don’t robotically imply the data are inaccurate. Companies with related operations, shared manufacturing services, or frequent reporting boundaries may legitimately report related emissions. However, precisely an identical values reported to a number of decimal locations warrant additional verification towards the unique submissions.
Another case considerations Pillar Oil, the place the identical numerical worth seems repeatedly throughout completely different greenhouse gases.
For instance, in 2022, the worth 1,610,170.7872 seems throughout a number of gases, together with carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, nitric oxide and sulphur dioxide. The identical sample seems in 2023 with 2,389,859.8050.
The printed report doesn’t clarify why these completely different gases share an identical values.
Missing methane info
The evaluation additionally discovered that methane reporting is much from full.
Of the 30 company-year data reviewed in Appendix 12, solely 12 include info throughout all three methane reporting fields.
The remaining 18 data include missing info, and a few of the omissions are tough to interpret.
For occasion, NAE reported 963,970 kilograms of methane in 2022 however recorded zero for the corresponding carbon dioxide equal.
In 2023, the corporate once more reported methane emissions however left the carbon dioxide equal subject clean.
Similarly, Chevron and Heirs Energies reported methane solely as carbon dioxide equal in 2023 with out offering the underlying methane mass.
Heirs Energies reported 217.4 million kilograms CO₂e, one of many highest methane-related figures within the dataset, but the absence of the methane mass makes it unattainable to independently confirm the conversion.
In one other case, Platform Petroleum seems on the reporting sheet, but all of its methane fields are clean for each years.
The report offers no rationalization of whether or not clean cells point out that no emissions occurred, that no data have been submitted, or that emissions weren’t calculated.
This distinction issues as a result of a clean subject shouldn’t be the identical as reporting zero emissions.
Inconsistencies in firm reporting
The evaluation additionally raises questions about what number of firms truly submitted emissions data.
NEITI states that 15 out of 62 audited firms submitted greenhouse fuel info, whereas 47 firms didn’t.
However, the appendix presents 15 firms on the reporting sheets, and 58 entries on the non-reporting sheet.
Taken collectively, the lists include 73 entries, relatively than the 62 firms referenced by NEITI.
Further overview reveals that Platform Petroleum seems on each the reporting and non-reporting lists.
In addition, some entries confer with three way partnership pursuits or particular person oil fields relatively than clearly identifiable authorized entities, making it tough to find out precisely which firms reported emissions.
For instance, the non-reporting checklist consists of the NEPL (55 per cent) and Shoreline (45 per cent) pursuits in OML 30, whereas the reporting sheets individually checklist Esso’s Erha and Usan fields.
A reconciled checklist that clearly distinguishes authorized entities, operators, and manufacturing belongings would considerably enhance transparency.
Why this issues
Nigeria has dedicated to ending routine fuel flaring by 2030 and decreasing fugitive methane emissions from the oil and fuel sector by 60 per cent by 2031.
Measuring progress in direction of these objectives depends upon dependable baseline data.
Because Appendix 12 represents Nigeria’s first public company-level greenhouse fuel disclosure, it successfully serves because the benchmark towards which future emissions reductions will probably be measured. If the baseline incorporates gaps or inconsistencies, assessing future progress turns into harder.
Several sensible enhancements may strengthen future disclosures, together with publishing the unique reporting templates submitted by firms, clearly distinguishing between reported zeros and missing info, figuring out the authorized entity answerable for every reported asset, offering explanatory notes for uncommon entries and sustaining a public log of corrections the place errors are recognized.
NEITI’s response
NEITI was requested, via a Freedom of Information request, to answer the problems recognized within the evaluation, together with questions in regards to the methodology utilized by firms, duplicate figures, missing or zero values, emissions depth, the variety of reporting firms, verification procedures, and the accessibility of the printed data.
NEITI defined that underneath EITI Requirement 3.4, greenhouse fuel reporting is inspired relatively than necessary.
According to the company, its reporting template requested firms to offer greenhouse fuel emissions data and data on the methodology used, together with emission components, direct floor primarily based sensors, satellite tv for pc estimates, and different recognised approaches.
However, the template didn’t require firms to offer the Global Warming Potential values used, the precise IPCC or different scientific evaluation from which these values have been derived, or the time horizon used to transform emissions into CO₂ equivalents.
The company stated it didn’t convert, normalise, recalculate or regulate the data submitted by firms. The printed figures, due to this fact, replicate the data supplied by the businesses.
NEITI additionally stated there may be at present no established nationwide verification framework for these disclosures and that its position is concentrated on transparency, assortment, and publication relatively than on impartial technical validation or methodological harmonisation.
Regarding repeated entries and an identical figures recognized within the evaluation, NEITI acknowledged the observations and stated it could conduct an inside overview.
The company stated vital changes had been mirrored within the printed data. It added that the unique firm templates and inside validation data weren’t meant for public disclosure.
NEITI stated that any corrections or clarifications ensuing from its inside overview can be mirrored within the printed dataset. It acknowledged the observations and stated it could take the suggestions into consideration because it updates the printed info.
What occurs subsequent?
NEITI’s first company-level greenhouse fuel disclosure represents an vital place to begin for public scrutiny of emissions in Nigeria’s oil and fuel sector.
The data present journalists, researchers, civil society organisations and policymakers with info that was beforehand tough to entry on the firm stage.
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At the identical time, the evaluation reveals that the worth of the disclosure will depend upon enhancements in the best way emissions info is collected, standardised, verified and printed.
The fast precedence needs to be to determine a clearer and extra constant reporting framework that allows customers to differentiate between zero emissions, missing info and non-applicable data; perceive the methodology behind reported figures; determine the businesses and belongings coated; and reproduce emissions-intensity calculations.
As Nigeria works in direction of its methane-reduction commitments, the standard of the underlying data will probably be as vital because the targets themselves.
The first disclosure has opened the window of transparency. The subsequent problem is guaranteeing that the data obtainable via that window is full, constant and dependable to assist significant public accountability.
This report was supported by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development(CJID) as a part of the Deepening Methane Emissions Transparency Initiative-Stream II
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