Nigeria's High Court ruled last week that gas flaring is illegal. The move might ensure compliance but force Nigeria to shut down all oil production, which could increase political tensions in the country's volatile Niger Delta.
Nigeria loses approximately $25 billion worth of annual revenue to gas flaring, while the country's Niger Delta records an estimated 49,000 premature births annually, Nnimmo Bassey, executive director of Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, said.
Human rights advocates said gas flaring damages agriculture and harms people's health in the area. In addition to activists and the indigent, Nigeria's influential middle class also applauded the ruling.
"For the first time, a court of competence has boldly declared that Shell, Chevron Texaco and the other oil corporations have been engaged in illegal activities here for decades," said Bassey.
The court ruled all flaring must cease on the grounds that it violates the human rights of those living near the gas emissions. Industry experts estimate Nigeria flared 19 billion cubic meters of gas in 2003, second only to Russia.
Although Shell reduced its flaring in late 2004, the British-Dutch venture said it cannot phase it out by the 2008 deadline, partly due to funding shortfalls for gas gathering projects from the government.
