Gas Flaring Law Error Cost Nigeria Billions of Dollars
- Government is approaching lawmakers to amend energy law
- Nation looking to boost revenue to fund infrastructure
Photographer: Adam Berry/Bloomberg
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Africa’s top oil producer plans to make gas flaring more costly for companies that have escaped the payment of billions of dollars despite being fined, Nigerian Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun said.
In the “legal framework for the gas-flaring penalty, it was drafted as a charge. A charge is tax deductible,” Adeosun said in a Jan. 23 interview. “So, what do the international oil companies do? They flare, they pay the charge on which they get tax relief. That’s just bad drafting.”