Nigeria lost an estimated $5.5 billion worth of natural gas to routine flaring between 2021 and 2025, according to an analysis of the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency’s Gas Flare Tracker, with experts warning the true economic cost is far higher once lost electricity, LPG production, government revenue and carbon-market opportunities are counted.

Postdoctoral researcher and NOSDRA environmental scientist Mahmoud Ibrahim Mahmoud estimated Nigeria’s broader daily losses from methane waste at $18 million to $28 million, rising above $30 million a day, or $7 billion to $12 billion a year, under favourable carbon-market conditions. NOSDRA’s 2025 Gas Flare Report put the value of gas flared that year alone at about $1.1 billion, generating roughly 17.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and enough forgone electricity to have produced over 32,300 gigawatt-hours of power, even though Nigeria’s gas utilisation rate exceeded 92%.

For communities living beside the flare stacks, the toll is measured in more than dollars. Chief Zion D. Kientei, who chairs the Council of Chiefs of Lasukugbene Community in Bayelsa State, said decades of flaring and pipeline leaks have driven away fish species, cut crop yields and, according to a recent state environmental report, pushed the average Bayelsan’s life expectancy below 45 years. He called for captured gas to be prioritised for host communities first, arguing that reliable electricity would let young people start businesses and reduce unemployment and unrest.

Environmental advocates and industry figures broadly agree the flared gas represents a missed opportunity rather than an unavoidable cost. Renevlyn Development Initiative executive director Philip Jakpor pointed to weak enforcement of Nigeria’s 2023 venting and methane regulations, while Excella-U Energy managing director Oseagah Solomon argued Nigeria is “not short of gas but short of the will to capture it,” with financing, infrastructure gaps and policy uncertainty cited as the biggest barriers to turning flared gas into power, cooking fuel and industrial feedstock.

Source: vanguardngr.com