Oil and gas · Nigeria

Gas flaring in Nigeria: what it is, why it continues, and what the law says

Gas flaring is the burning of natural gas that comes out of the ground with crude oil, at the production site, instead of capturing and using it. Nigeria has flared gas since the 1950s, and it is still one of the countries that flare the most.

This post explains what gas flaring is, why it continues in Nigeria, how much gas is flared, what the law says, and what flaring means for oil and gas companies that must report their emissions under IFRS S2 from 2028.

What is gas flaring?

In short, the gas flaring meaning is the controlled burning of associated gas, the natural gas brought to the surface along with crude oil, through a tall stack at an oil facility. In effect, the gas is treated as a by-product: when it cannot be used on site or moved elsewhere, it is burned off.

NOSDRA's Gas Flare Tracker, run by Nigeria's oil spill regulator, explains that flaring also helps prevent accidents, because burning the gas is safer than letting it build up. There are broadly two types of gas flaring: routine flaring, where gas is burned as a normal part of production, and non-routine flaring, for emergencies and safety. Nigeria's targets aim at the first.

Why is gas flared in Nigeria?

Because there is often no way to use or sell the gas at the point where it comes up. Producers need pipelines, processing plants and buyers to turn associated gas into power or revenue, and where those are missing, burning the gas is cheaper than capturing it.

NOSDRA notes that flared gas could supply power to a country with an acute electricity shortage, but that this needs a combination of infrastructure, regulation and investment. The World Bank makes the same point globally: weak infrastructure, limited gas markets, financing constraints and uneven enforcement slow investment in gas capture, according to Reuters' report on the World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Tracker.

How much gas does Nigeria flare?

About 6 billion cubic metres a year. In 2025 the World Bank estimated Nigeria flared 6.6 billion cubic metres, while the regulator's own metered data showed 6.08 billion, a gap the regulator attributes to satellite versus on-site measurement.

Both figures come from the same Reuters report of 23 June 2026. Global gas flaring reached a six-year high in 2025, at 167 billion cubic metres, wasting gas worth an estimated $54 billion. Nine countries, Nigeria among them, accounted for more than four-fifths of the world's flaring.

The two figures are worth reading together. Satellite estimates catch flares that may not be metered; metered data is what a company reports. For a disclosure, the number has to come from your own meters and records.

Is gas flaring illegal in Nigeria?

Not entirely. Flaring without permission has been illegal since 1984, according to NOSDRA, and the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 makes flaring or venting an offence, with exceptions for emergencies, safety and exemptions granted by the regulator.

The history of gas flaring in Nigeria's law runs over five decades. The table sets out the main steps.

Year	Measure
1969	Legislative measures to curb flaring in place
1984	Flaring without the minister's written permission becomes illegal
2016	Nigeria endorses the World Bank's Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative and launches the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme
2018	Flare Gas (Prevention of Waste and Pollution) Regulations
2021	Petroleum Industry Act, with five articles on gas flaring
2022	Commercialisation programme restructured to offer flare sites to investors by competitive bid
2023	Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions Regulations replace the 2018 rules
2030	Target: zero routine flaring
2031	Target: 60% reduction in fugitive methane emissions

Sources: the 1969 and 1984 measures are from NOSDRA; 2016, 2018, 2021, 2023 and the targets from the World Bank's Nigeria regulation profile; the PIA offence and its exceptions under section 104 from a legal analysis by Udo Udoma & Belo-Osagie; 2022 from the NUPRC's programme page.

On the penalty for gas flaring in Nigeria, NOSDRA's tracker states the official rate as $2 per 1,000 standard cubic feet. Penalty rates are now set under the 2023 regulations, so confirm the current schedule with the NUPRC before relying on any figure.

What are the effects of gas flaring?

Health, climate and lost value. Flaring releases pollutants into the air around host communities, adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and burns gas that could have produced power or revenue.

Health

NOSDRA lists the pollutants: oxides of nitrogen, carbon and sulphur, particulate matter, hydrocarbons and ash, photochemical oxidants and hydrogen sulphide. It links them to cancer, neurological, reproductive and developmental effects, and notes reports of deformities in children, lung damage and skin problems.

Climate

Nigeria's 2024 National Inventory Document reports that venting and flaring produced 17,191 kt CO₂e in 2022. That was 68% of the oil and gas sector's fugitive emissions, up 13% since 2000.

Wasted gas

Globally, the World Bank put the value of flared gas at around $54 billion in 2025.

NOSDRA describes gas flaring in Niger Delta communities as a continuing source of environmental and health concerns, despite efforts to reduce it.

Why is flaring better than venting?

Because venting releases methane unburned, and methane traps far more heat than carbon dioxide. Flaring burns the methane into carbon dioxide, which is less harmful, though it is still an emission.

That is why Nigeria's 2023 regulations cover flaring, venting and fugitive methane leaks together, and why the national target includes a 60% cut in fugitive methane by 2031. Ending flaring by simply venting the gas instead would make the climate problem worse, not better.

What is Nigeria doing to end gas flaring?

Nigeria has committed to end routine flaring by 2030 and is trying to sell flared gas to investors who can use it. Progress is contested: global flaring rose in 2025, and investigations have questioned how routine flaring is counted.

Nigeria's gas flaring policy now leans on commercialisation. The main tool is the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme, restructured in 2022 to offer flare sites to technically and commercially competent third-party investors through a competitive bid. The alternatives to gas flaring it aims to unlock are gas-to-power, processing for domestic use and export.

The regulator renewed its 2030 commitment in October 2026. A Premium Times investigation published at the same time found flare volumes increased at some oil assets after the 2023 regulations were introduced, and raised questions about how companies' claims to have ended routine flaring are verified.

What does gas flaring mean for sustainability reporting?

For an oil and gas company, flaring is part of its own emissions, and from 2028 those emissions are part of a mandatory disclosure. Public interest entities report under IFRS S1 and S2 for periods beginning on or after 1 January 2028, under the FRC's amended roadmap.

Flaring and venting at your own facilities sit in Scope 1, the emissions you cause directly. SRG 1, the FRC's guideline, expects Scope 1 to be disclosed and asks companies to consider industry-specific SASB topics where IFRS S2 does not cover a risk. Three things follow:

Metered volumes matter

The difference between a satellite estimate and your metered figure is the kind of gap an assurance provider will ask about.

Routine and non-routine flaring need separating

The 2030 target applies to routine flaring, so your records should show which is which, and why.

Lenders and buyers may ask

Banks that report their own financed emissions, and buyers in export markets, may ask producers for flaring data.

See how Emvert works for oil and gas companies, and our guide to carbon accounting for how Scope 1 figures are built.

Book a demo: we show you how flaring records become a Scope 1 figure an assurance provider can trace.

Check this yourself. These are the sources this post is based on.