Analysis of fifty year Gas Flaring Emissions from oil/gas companies in Africa

Flaring is a process during which waste gases are burned in an open atmosphere. The quantification of gas flaring emissions represents a major scientific concern due to its magnitude and related uncertainties. In global/regional emission inventories, this source, though releasing large amounts of pollutants in the atmosphere, is still poorly quantified if not missing. It can represent the main emission source of gaseous compounds and particles in some areas, as observed during the AMMA project in the Gulf of Guinea. Our study focuses on Africa, and includes Nigeria, which is one of the largest natural oil and gas reserve in the world. Africa is an important gas flaring area, since technologies for the exploitation of this energy source and the reduction of flaring activities have been only recently implemented. We have developed an emission inventory for gases and particles from flaring in Africa. We have first compiled the few published available dataset of fuel consumption from flaring. The spatial distribution of CO2 and black carbon (BC) emissions from gas flaring in 2011 is estimated using a methodology based on field reports and remote sensing (DMSP satellite data). Our results point out to the importance of flaring activities into the regional anthropogenic emissions in Africa over the period 1960-2011. Finally, the contribution of flaring to total anthropogenic emission can be large and needs to be accurately quantified.