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 govt of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, mentioned flare websites beneath the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme may help tasks utilizing up to about 250 million normal cubic ft 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 examine what oil and gas corporations 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 mentioned.
The gas flare programme seeks to finish routine flaring, create jobs, and help native participation according to Nigeria’s nationally decided contribution, its local weather plan beneath the Paris Agreement.
The fee issued permits to 28 corporations beneath the programme in December 2025, when its chief govt on the time, Gbenga Komolafe, projected $2 billion in funding.
Nigeria flared 203.9 billion normal cubic ft of gas in 2025, in accordance to fee information.
Flaring fell about 8.1 per cent within the first quarter of 2026 from a 12 months earlier, however the share of gas flared rose to 7.48 per cent in August, the very best since October 2025.
A PREMIUM TIMES investigation revealed in October discovered weak enforcement of the anti-flaring legislation and gaps in how methane emissions are measured.
Flare-gas seize was considered one of a number of markets Ms Eyesan mentioned the fee’s guidelines have opened to investors on the occasion, specializing in transferring from coverage implementation to funding.
She mentioned the fee has used the summits from COP27 to COP30 to announce its guidelines, together with its 2022 pointers 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 mentioned.
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 mentioned.
Ms Eyesan cited assessments by the Clean Air Task Force exhibiting {that a} set of abatement measures may lower Nigeria’s methane emissions by about 533 kilotonnes a 12 months. She mentioned prices could possibly be recovered the place the captured gas is bought.
She additionally mentioned Nigeria is effectively positioned to develop 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 ft of gas, in accordance to the fee’s January reserves disclosure.
Ms Eyesan mentioned the reserves will stay central to development and vitality safety, however that the sector’s future competitiveness will more and more rely upon 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 instrument 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 lower methane emissions by 60 per cent by 2035. The fee’s 2022 guidelines require oil and gas corporations to change emission estimates with measurements by the primary quarter of 2027. The tracker will assist regulators examine the figures they report.
Ms Eyesan mentioned the know-how is basically out there and the foundations are in place, however that scaling up would require nearer synergy between authorities, business, know-how suppliers and climate-finance companions to shut funding gaps.
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