By Ochuko Akuopha
ASABA – CHEVRON Nigeria Limited, Monday, said it has reduced gas flaring by 98 percent in its efforts to promote environmental sustainability.
Chevron’s General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Oduselu Olusoga, stated this at Asaba, Delta State, during a one-day workshop on Oil and Gas reporting, held in partnership with the the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Delta State Council.
Olusoga, represented by the company’s Manager Communications, Dr Victor Anyaegbuduke, said the company’s gas flare reduction to 98 percent had been for the past 10 years, explaining that the gas were being gathered and treated before being pushed to the domestic market.
“What we are looking for is cleaner energy, cleaner oil, environmentally safe production of oil”, he said.
Disclosing that the company had been trying to ensure that Nigerian content development was not a problem, he said Chevron spends one million dollars for Nigerian content development every year.
He also disclosed that the company pioneered the Global Memorandum of Understanding, GMOU in 2005 to enhance participatory partnership model that brings communities in the process of development.
“What the GMOU did was that it gave communities ownership of the development process; you saw community members now becoming members of the RDC,determining what they wanted. They will do a five-year development plan; they will decide what actually they need.
“If they need a hospital, they need water, they need electricity, they are the ones that determine and Chevron will provide the fund, bring NGO to follow them and just monitor what they are doing”, he said.
Earlier, the Chairman of the State Council of the NUJ, Comrade Churchill Oyowe expressed the union’s delight in partnering with the company in organising the capacity-building programme which it said came at a time when the oil and gas industry remained central to Nigeria’s economy, energy security and national development.
Reiterating the commitment of the NUJ Delta State, to continuous capacity building for journalists, he noted that a better-trained journalist was better positioned to serve the public interest and uphold the credibility of the profession.
Oyowe emphasized that Oil and gas journalism required more than the ability to write a good story, saying “It requires an understanding of the industry’s value chain, regulatory framework, environmental concerns, community relations, energy transition and the complex economic issues surrounding the sector.
“It also requires a strong commitment to professional ethics, accuracy and fairness”, he said.
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