An energy expert, Mr Adebola Adejumo, executive of IHS Energy in Houston, USA, said in Abuja, that oil companies operating in Nigeria have so far flared more than 19.2tcf of the country's gas resource. He also said that the volume being flared was still high, as Nigeria records a yearly waste of $ 32 bn.

Adejumo said this at the 13th Offshore West Africa conference/exhibition on "World Energy Demand and Resource Availability: Africa's Strategic importance."

He said the flare level represents 70 % of the gross gas production, when compared to Angola's 2.9tcf (65 %) and Algeria's 5.7tcf (4.5 %).He added that rising oil demand and price led to the search for oil in "friendlier" oil regions, in which West Africa is prominent."

"After the FSU, Africa is projected to witness the highest growth in productive capacity to 2015. Algeria, Angola, Libya and Nigeria will provide 80 % of this Production," Adejumo said, and asked, "how poised is the region to meet her share of global energy supply? What are the present and anticipated total resource availability, and what major projects are going to drive this growth?"

According to him, even though sub-surface indices favor this growth, the above ground issues shall dictate production. He added that in Africa for instance, global fears of meeting future world energy demand would stem from the controversy over the volume of remaining reserves and access to hydrocarbon resources. He said this is predicated on the feeling that more reserves are situated in regions deemed volatile, politically and fiscally unfriendly.

"Huge resources are also locked in challenging environments like the arctic region and Siberia," he said.