By Tosin Kolade
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) says Nigeria is dedicated to ending routine fuel flaring by 2030, citing stricter penalties and efforts to commercialise flare fuel.
The fee’s Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, acknowledged this on the third Emogas International Natural Gas-Based Industry Conference and Exhibition (EINGICE) in Abuja on Wednesday.
She was represented by Mr Janice Anyanwu, Deputy Director, Gas Utilisation at NUPRC.
Eyesan stated fuel flaring had declined from about 90 per cent of manufacturing up to now to roughly seven per cent, with about 500 million customary cubic toes flared every day.
She attributed the discount to stricter penalties and efforts to commercialise flared fuel, however recognized insufficient infrastructure, excessive funding prices and low fuel volumes at some websites as obstacles to ending routine flaring.
Eyesan stated the fee launched the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme in 2021, auctioning 42 flare websites to third-party traders.
The initiatives embody mini-Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) vegetation and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) services.
She stated the Petroleum Industry Act standardised the gas-flaring penalty at two {dollars} per thousand customary cubic toes, with extra penalties for operators exceeding authorized thresholds.
Eyesan stated Nigeria’s confirmed fuel reserves stood at 215.19 trillion cubic toes (TCF) as of Jan. 1, giving the nation an estimated reserve lifetime of 85 years.
She stated Nigeria produced a mean of seven.42 billion customary cubic toes every day in 2025, with about 92.4 per cent utilised.
She attributed investor curiosity to reforms, together with Executive Order 40 of 2024, and cited the Ubeta, HI and Ima fuel initiatives, whose mixed potential manufacturing capability is about one billion cubic toes every day.
Eyesan stated the fee was advancing a gas-swap framework and had launched a licensing spherical providing 40 blocks to draw funding.
Meanwhile, Dr Ainojie Irune, Managing Director of Oando Energy Resources Nigeria Ltd., stated Africa should transfer past celebrating fuel reserves and give attention to dependable provide, funding and worth creation.
Speaking on “Driving Gas Industrialisation through Innovative and Upstream Petroleum Investment Decisions”, Irune stated Africa’s fuel trade would require about one trillion {dollars} in funding by 2050.
“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,” he stated.
He stated practically 600 million Africans lacked entry to electrical energy, including that fuel might help energy era, manufacturing and industrialisation.
Irune stated Nigeria’s fuel improvement remained constrained by insufficient infrastructure, unsure cost preparations and delays in business selections, despite its estimated 215 trillion cubic toes of reserves.
“More than 55 trillion cubic feet of discovered Nigerian gas remained undeveloped or awaited commercialisation, he said.
He said producers, pipeline operators, power plants, industrial consumers, financiers and governments needed to coordinate their commitments to make projects commercially viable.
“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 stated.
Irune referred to as for built-in gas-to-market programs, bankable provide contracts, dependable infrastructure and steady regulatory insurance policies.
He urged stakeholders to measure progress by fuel delivered and funding executed fairly than reserves found or initiatives introduced.
“Resources create opportunity. Reliability earns confidence. Integration unlocks investment, and delivery turns Africa’s gas wealth into lasting prosperity,” he stated.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) studies that EINGICE 2026 brings collectively power trade leaders, policymakers, traders, regulators, expertise innovators and entrepreneurs.
The convention, themed “Accelerating Africa’s Global LNG Trade Share and Driving Gas Industrialisation,” focuses on strategic funding, upstream collaboration, LNG market growth, gas-based industrialisation and synthetic intelligence-driven power innovation. (NAN)
Edited by Joseph Edeh
