Nigeria’s flared gas in 4 years enough to power 10,000 homes a year – Report

•Gas flaring in Nigeria

Between 2021 and 2024, Ni­geria wasted over 817,000 mmscf of gas through flar­ing, equivalent to losing more than 23 trillion litres of potential energy, Budg­IT Nigeria has disclosed.

The loss of gas through flaring, various analysts told our correspondent, could have generated over 110,000 GWh of electricity, enough to power more than 10,000 Nigerian homes for a year.

The value of the lost gas was obtained from the offi­cial X handle of BudgIT Ni­geria @BudgITng by our correspondent in Abuja, reports Daily Independent.

Gas flaring remains a persistent problem in Ni­geria, causing severe en­vironmental damage and economic loss.

Despite decades of government efforts, in­cluding court rulings, deadlines set by past administrations, and legislative attempts, en­forcement has been weak due to unclear laws, poor government engagement with oil companies, and regulatory gaps.

Key interventions have included: The 2005 Federal High Court ruling declar­ing gas flaring illegal as a human rights violation; missed government dead­lines to end flaring under Presidents Yar’Adua (2008) and Jonathan (2011); the stalled Gas Flaring Pro­hibition Bill (2017–2018) which failed to become law; the Petroleum Indus­try Act (2021), which re­quires feasibility studies for gas utilisation but per­mits flaring without pen­alties for up to five years; and the Associated Gas Re-Injection Act (AGRA), allowing exemptions and issuing fines too low to de­ter flaring.

Regulatory bodies like the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission and the Ni­gerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority face challenges from overlap­ping mandates, weak pen­alties, and limited monitor­ing capacity.

Efforts to integrate sat­ellite tracking and public transparency remain in­complete.

The government now targets ending routine gas flaring by 2030 in line with global climate goals.

Collaborative initia­tives are underway, in­cluding methane emission guidelines, national flare reduction targets, and the Nigerian Gas Flare Com­mercialisation Programme (NGFCP), which promotes flare gas commercialisa­tion.

However, success de­pends on stronger en­forcement, meaningful penalties, community en­gagement, compensation for health impacts, and accelerating flare gas util­isation projects for power and industry.

Until these critical steps are firmly implemented, Nigeria risks continuing to lose vast energy resources and enduring the environ­mental and social costs of gas flaring.