Nigeria renews 2030 gas flaring pledge despite enforcement, methane monitoring gaps

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has renewed Nigeria’s commitment to ending routine gas flaring by 2030, a target under scrutiny given persistent flaring at oil facilities and gaps in regulatory enforcement and emissions monitoring, as documented by PREMIUM TIMES.

The commission’s Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, said the country was pursuing stricter penalties and the commercialisation of gas currently being burned at oil production sites.

According to a report by the News Agency of Nigeria, Ms Eyesan, represented by Janice Anyanwu, the commission’s deputy director of gas utilisation, spoke on Wednesday at the Emogas International Natural Gas-Based Industry Conference and Exhibition (EINGICE) 2026 in Abuja.

She said gas flaring, which previously accounted for about 90 per cent of production, had declined to approximately seven per cent, with about 500 million standard cubic feet of gas still flared daily.

However, the pledge comes amid questions about whether Nigeria’s regulatory framework is being enforced effectively and whether available data can independently prove the scale of progress toward ending routine flaring.

A PREMIUM TIMES investigation found major gaps in implementing the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and the regulations governing gas flaring, venting and methane emissions.

The investigation found that regulatory delays, weak enforcement and deficiencies in methane measurement had undermined efforts to curb emissions, nearly five years after the PIA was enacted in August 2021.

It also found that the commission had not published some information required under its own regulations, including comprehensive data on gas venting, which releases methane directly into the atmosphere rather than burning it.

In an April 2026 directive reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES, the commission acknowledged technical capacity limitations and gaps in measuring, reporting, and verifying methane emissions.

The regulator later directed oil and gas operators to improve emissions reporting, including a shift to more accurate, measurement-based monitoring systems.

PREMIUM TIMES recently investigated TotalEnergies’ declaration that it had ended routine gas flaring in Nigeria

In our report, we documented persistent flare activity around the company’s OML 58 and OML 130 assets.

During visits to host communities, including Obite and Obagi in Rivers State, our reporter observed gas burning day and night at facilities operated by TotalEnergies despite its public declaration.

Satellite data reviewed by this newspaper also indicated that flare activity at OML 58 and OML 130 had neither disappeared nor reduced significantly after the announcement.

The investigation sought explanations from TotalEnergies and the NUPRC, including whether the regulator had independently assessed the company’s claim and how the observed flaring had been classified. Neither organisation responded to the enquiries at the time of publication.

The findings raised questions about how routine flaring is classified, what evidence supports companies’ declarations that they have eliminated it, and whether regulators can independently verify those claims since ending routine flaring does not necessarily mean that all flaring has stopped. Operators may still flare gas for emergencies, safety reasons or other non-routine purposes, subject to applicable regulations.

However, determining whether such activity is justified requires transparent operational records, reliable emissions measurements and effective regulatory oversight.

At Wednesday’s conference, Ms Eyesan attributed the reduction in gas flaring to stricter penalties and efforts to develop commercial uses for gas that would otherwise be wasted.

She said the NUPRC launched the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme in 2021 and auctioned 42 flare sites to third-party investors.

The projects include mini-liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants and facilities for producing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

Under the PIA, the commission’s chief executive said the gas-flaring penalty was standardised at $2 per thousand standard cubic feet, with additional penalties for operators exceeding approved thresholds.

The law also provides a framework for capturing and commercialising flare gas rather than allowing it to be wasted.

However, PREMIUM TIMES reported that several operators continued flaring gas despite legal obligations to reduce emissions.

Our investigation found that flare volumes increased at some oil assets after the introduction of the 2023 gas-flaring and methane regulations. The investigation also documented compliance concerns and instances in which operators said they had not faced sanctions for failing to meet reporting or other regulatory obligations.

In October, PREMIUM TIMES further reported that the commission issued permits for flare-gas commercialisation to 28 companies in December 2025, more than four years after the PIA became law.

The commission’s subsequent threat to revoke permits from investors that failed to show major progress in utilising flare gas highlights the difficulty of translating the programme into measurable reductions.

The latest pledge raises questions about how quickly the remaining flare sites will be brought under effective commercialisation arrangements and how the regulator will demonstrate that the resulting projects are reducing emissions.

Ms Eyesan said Nigeria had proven gas reserves of 215.19 trillion cubic feet as of 1 January, giving the country an estimated reserve life of 85 years.

She said Nigeria produced an average of 7.42 billion standard cubic feet of gas daily in 2025, with about 92.4 per cent utilised.

She attributed investor interest to reforms, including Executive Order 40 of 2024, and cited the Ubeta, HI and Ima gas projects, which have a combined prospective production capacity of about one billion cubic feet daily.

The commission is also advancing a gas-swap framework and has launched a licensing round offering 40 blocks to attract further investment, she said.

Despite the country’s substantial reserves, inadequate infrastructure, high investment costs and insufficient gas volumes at some flare sites remain obstacles to eliminating routine flaring.

Ainojie Irune, managing director of Oando Energy Resources Nigeria Ltd., said Africa needed to focus less on celebrating its gas reserves and more on delivering reliable supplies and converting resources into economic value.

Speaking on driving gas industrialisation through innovative upstream investment decisions, Mr Irune said Africa’s gas industry would require about $1 trillion in investment by 2050.

He said Nigeria’s gas development remained constrained by inadequate infrastructure, uncertain payment arrangements and delays in commercial decisions, adding that more than 55 trillion cubic feet of discovered Nigerian gas remained undeveloped or awaited commercialisation.

Mr Irune called for integrated gas-to-market systems, bankable supply contracts, reliable infrastructure and stable regulatory policies.

He said progress should be measured by the volume of gas delivered and investments executed rather than reserves discovered or projects announced.

The conference, EINGICE 2026, brought together energy industry leaders, policymakers, investors, regulators and technology innovators to discuss expanding Africa’s LNG trade and accelerating gas-based industrialisation.