NUPRC
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) has reaffirmed Nigeria’s commitment to completely eliminate routine gas flaring by 2030, pointing to stricter regulatory penalties and ongoing efforts to commercialise flare gas as key drivers of recent progress.
Speaking on Wednesday at the Emogas International Natural Gas-Based Industry Conference and Exhibition (EINGICE 2026) in Abuja, NUPRC Chief Executive Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan highlighted a dramatic reduction in historical flaring levels.
Represented by Mr. Janice Anyanwu, Deputy Director of Gas Utilisation at NUPRC, Eyesan revealed that gas flaring in Nigeria has dropped from nearly 90 per cent of total production in past decades to approximately seven per cent today though roughly 500 million standard cubic feet (MMscfd) is still flared daily.
Key Drivers and Infrastructure Hurdles
Eyesan attributed the steady drop in flaring to policy frameworks established under the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which standardised gas-flaring penalties at $2.00 per thousand standard cubic feet (Mscf), along with additional fines for operators that breach sanctioned limits.
Further progress has been driven by the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), launched in 2021, under which the commission auctioned 42 flare sites to third-party investors for development into mini-Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plants and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) facilities.
However, Eyesan cautioned that significant structural hurdles remain before routine flaring can be fully eliminated:
Infrastructure Deficits: Inadequate pipeline connectivity across remote fields.
High Capital Costs: Substantial upfront investment required for capture and processing technologies.
Low Field Volumes: Economic infeasibility of capturing gas at smaller, scattered flare sites.
Nigeria’s proven natural gas reserves stood at 215.19 trillion cubic feet (TCF) as of January 1, representing an estimated reserve life of 85 years.
In 2025, the country produced an average of 7.42 billion standard cubic feet per day (Bscfd), achieving a 92.4 per cent utilisation rate. Regulatory reforms notably Executive Order 40 of 2024 have rejuvenated investor interest in major upstream developments, including the Ubeta, HI, and Ima gas projects, which hold a combined prospective production capacity of nearly 1 Bscfd.
To further boost market liquidity and attract fresh capital, NUPRC is advancing a dedicated gas-swap framework and has launched a new licensing round offering 40 exploration blocks.
Despite the positive regulatory metrics, industry stakeholders urged swift action to bridge the gap between resource discovery and actual market delivery.
Delivering a keynote presentation titled “Driving Gas Industrialisation through Innovative and Upstream Petroleum Investment Decisions,” Dr. Ainojie Irune, Managing Director of Oando Energy Resources Nigeria Ltd., argued that Africa must look beyond celebrating underground wealth.
“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,” Irune said.
Irune emphasized that nearly 600 million Africans still lack reliable electricity access a deficit that domestic gas production could directly address through power generation and industrial manufacturing.
He noted that over 55 TCF of discovered Nigerian gas remains undeveloped or awaiting commercialisation due to uncertain payment structures, delayed commercial decisions, and infrastructure bottlenecks.
To unlock the estimated $1 trillion in investment Africa’s gas sector will require by 2050, Irune called for coordinated commitments across the entire value chain to resolve classic supply-chain deadlocks:
“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 urged regulators, financiers, and operators to prioritize integrated gas-to-market systems, bankable supply contracts, and stable policies measuring progress by actual gas delivered to end-users rather than reserves announced on paper.
