Nigeria’s Senate on Thursday passed a bill outlining tougher penalties for energy companies which flare gas, reports Reuters.

The bill, which still needs to be signed by President Umaru Yar’Adua to pass into law, says that from January 1st 2011 companies which flare gas will have to pay a fine equal to the international market price for the gas flared.

Firms operating in Nigeria currently burn about 2.5 billion cubic feet of gas each year because Nigeria does not have the necessary infrastructure to process it.