Nigeria to end routine gas flaring by 2030 – NUPRC

The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, says Nigeria is committed to ending routine gas flaring by 2030, citing stricter penalties and efforts to commercialise flare gas.

The commission’s Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, stated this at the Emogas International Natural Gas-Based Industry Conference and Exhibition, EINGICE, in Abuja on Wednesday.

She was represented by Janice Anyanwu, Deputy Director, Gas Utilisation at NUPRC.

Eyesan said gas flaring had declined from about 90 per cent of production in the past to approximately seven per cent, with about 500 million standard cubic feet flared daily.

She attributed the reduction to stricter penalties and efforts to commercialise flared gas, but identified inadequate infrastructure, high investment costs and low gas volumes at some sites as obstacles to ending routine flaring.

Eyesan said the commission launched the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme in 2021, auctioning 42 flare sites to third-party investors.

The projects include mini-Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) facilities.

She said the Petroleum Industry Act standardised the gas-flaring penalty at two dollars per thousand standard cubic feet, with additional penalties for operators exceeding approved thresholds.

Eyesan said Nigeria’s proven gas reserves stood at 215.19 trillion cubic feet (TCF) as of Jan. 1, giving the country an estimated reserve life of 85 years.

She said Nigeria produced an average of 7.42 billion standard cubic feet 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, whose combined prospective production capacity is about one billion cubic feet daily.

Eyesan said the commission was advancing a gas-swap framework and had launched a licensing round offering 40 blocks to attract investment.

Meanwhile, Dr Ainojie Irune, Managing Director of Oando Energy Resources Nigeria Ltd., said Africa must move beyond celebrating gas reserves and focus on reliable supply, investment and value creation.

Speaking on “Driving Gas Industrialisation through Innovative and Upstream Petroleum Investment Decisions”, Irune said Africa’s gas industry would require about one trillion dollars in investment by 2050.

“The real distance in our industry is not between Africa and its gas. It is between the gas we have and the value we create from it,” he said.

He said nearly 600 million Africans lacked access to electricity, adding that gas could support power generation, manufacturing and industrialisation.

Irune said Nigeria’s gas development remained constrained by inadequate infrastructure, uncertain payment arrangements and delays in commercial decisions, in spite of its estimated 215 trillion cubic feet of reserves.

“More than 55 trillion cubic feet of discovered Nigerian gas remained undeveloped or awaited commercialisation, he said.

He said producers, pipeline operators, power plants, industrial consumers, financiers and governments needed to coordinate their commitments to make projects commercially viable.

“The producer will not drill without a buyer. The buyer will not sign without a pipeline. The pipeline will not be built without guaranteed gas volumes,” he said.

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

He urged stakeholders to measure progress by gas delivered and investment executed rather than reserves discovered or projects announced.

“Resources create opportunity. Reliability earns confidence. Integration unlocks investment, and delivery turns Africa’s gas wealth into lasting prosperity,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that EINGICE 2026 brings together energy industry leaders, policymakers, investors, regulators, technology innovators and entrepreneurs.

The conference, themed “Accelerating Africa’s Global LNG Trade Share and Driving Gas Industrialisation,” focuses on strategic investment, upstream collaboration, LNG market expansion, gas-based industrialisation and artificial intelligence-driven energy innovation.

NAN