Nigeria’s upstream petroleum regulator advised investors at COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, that capturing the gas burnt off on the nation’s oil fields may unlock about $2.2 billion in funding.
The chief government of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, stated flare websites underneath the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme may help initiatives utilizing up to about 250 million normal cubic toes of gas per day.
Ms Eyesan spoke on Wednesday at a facet occasion hosted by the fee on the Nigerian pavilion, the place the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Emission Tracker (NOGIET), a satellite-linked portal that lets customers test what oil and gas firms report about their emissions, was additionally launched.
“Countries are now being judged not by the targets they announce, but by the projects they deliver, the emissions they reduce and the capital they mobilise,” she stated.
The gas flare programme seeks to finish routine flaring, create jobs, and help native participation in step with Nigeria’s nationally decided contribution, its local weather plan underneath the Paris Agreement.
The fee issued permits to 28 firms underneath the programme in December 2025, when its chief government on the time, Gbenga Komolafe, projected $2 billion in funding.
Nigeria flared 203.9 billion normal cubic toes of gas in 2025, in accordance to fee information.
Flaring fell about 8.1 per cent within the first quarter of 2026 from a yr earlier, however the share of gas flared rose to 7.48 per cent in August, the best since October 2025.
A PREMIUM TIMES investigation printed in October discovered weak enforcement of the anti-flaring regulation and gaps in how methane emissions are measured.
Flare-gas seize was one in all a number of markets Ms Eyesan stated the fee’s guidelines have opened to investors on the occasion, specializing in transferring from coverage implementation to funding.
She stated the fee has used the summits from COP27 to COP30 to announce its guidelines, together with its 2022 tips on fugitive methane and greenhouse gas emissions and its upstream decarbonisation framework, and that COP31 is about delivering on them.
“The framework is in place, the opportunities are clear, and attention must now turn to mobilising the technology, financing and partnerships needed to scale delivery,” she stated.
The NUPRC boss famous that the foundations are driving demand for leak detection and restore, satellite tv for pc and aerial monitoring, digital measurement and verification platforms, vapour restoration, flare-gas seize and electrical pneumatic replacements.
“These are no longer theoretical requirements. They are emerging markets created by regulatory implementation,” she stated.
Ms Eyesan cited assessments by the Clean Air Task Force exhibiting {that a} set of abatement measures may reduce Nigeria’s methane emissions by about 533 kilotonnes a yr. She stated prices may very well be recovered the place the captured gas is bought.
She additionally stated Nigeria is effectively positioned to turn into Africa’s main hub for carbon seize, utilisation and storage (CCUS) by advantage of its depleted oil and gas reservoirs, present infrastructure and rules.
The fee’s COP31 supplies put Nigeria’s storage potential at about 3.4 billion tonnes of CO₂ throughout 606 depleted fields within the Niger Delta.
Nigeria holds 37.01 billion barrels of oil and condensate and 215.19 trillion cubic toes of gas, in accordance to the fee’s January reserves disclosure.
Ms Eyesan stated the reserves will stay central to development and vitality safety, however that the sector’s future competitiveness will more and more rely on its carbon efficiency.
Tracking operators’ numbers
The NOGIET portal combines satellite tv for pc detection of methane plumes, maps of oil blocks and pipelines, and facility-level emissions information. Regulators can use it to discover hotspots, spot gaps in operators’ stories and determine the place to examine.
READ ALSO: COP31: ‘Africa won’t sacrifice development to decarbonise’
It was developed by the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN) with funding and technical help from the Global Methane Hub.
The device might be collectively operated by the NUPRC, which regulates oil and gas manufacturing, and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), which oversees pipelines, processing and gas distribution.
Nigeria has pledged to reduce methane emissions by 60 per cent by 2035. The fee’s 2022 guidelines require oil and gas firms to change emission estimates with measurements by the primary quarter of 2027. The tracker will assist regulators test the figures they report.
Ms Eyesan stated the know-how is essentially obtainable and the foundations are in place, however that scaling up would require nearer synergy between authorities, trade, know-how suppliers and climate-finance companions to shut funding gaps.
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