• Oil production has held steady. Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and OPEC confirm oil output averaged between 1.1 and 1.6 Gas flaring in Nigeria has surged to a four-year high, costing the country over $1 billion in the first five months of 2025.
• Lax penalties and loopholes in Nigerian law make it cheaper for oil producers to flare gas than to invest in recovery infrastructure.
• Despite steady oil output and stated climate goals, regulatory gaps mean gas flaring continues to rise, undermining Nigeria’s economic and environmental interests.

Nigeria’s problem with gas flaring is growing more urgent. Oil companies have refused to spend on infrastructure to capture and reuse gas, even as the government vows to act.

On July 8, local media reported that Nigeria flared more than 301 million cubic feet of natural gas in just the first five months of 2025, the nation’s highest level in four years.

Nigeria’s government reduced flared gas by 42 percent from 2012 to 2022, cutting it from 9.6 to 5.6 billion cubic meters, World Bank data shows. However, wasteful flaring is back on the rise, with losses now estimated at $2.5 billion a year.

Oil production has held steady. Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and OPEC confirm oil output averaged between 1.1 and 1.6 million barrels a day from 2022 through 2025. Therefore, the increase in flaring does not come from pumping more oil.

Instead, weak laws appear to enable this waste. Analysts find that Nigeria’s enforcement is lacking. The Gas Flaring (Prohibition and Punishment) Act of 1984 bans gas flaring without permission. However, the law allows oil companies to keep getting routine exemptions. No agency provides strong oversight over who receives these exemptions or why.

An Ineffective Legal Deterrent

Fines are too small. Operators pay only $2 for every 1,000 cubic feet of gas flared at large sites, when that gas can fetch $3.66 on the market. This price gap lets producers treat fines as a cheap cost of doing business rather than an incentive to invest in recovery.

The country loses real money. Gas flared in just the first five months of 2025 cost about $1.1 billion. The NUPRC reported collecting $341 million in fines over ten months in 2022. These payments do not come close to covering lost revenues or the harm to Nigeria’s economy and environment.

Because leaders have failed to reform the law, this waste continues at odds with Nigeria’s promises to invest in gas infrastructure and cut emissions.

Part of a Global Problem

The World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Tracker 2023 shows global flaring rebounded last year, rising to 148 billion cubic meters—a 7 percent jump even though oil output rose just 1 percent. Nigeria and eight other countries together account for 75 percent of global flaring.

This article was initially published in French by Abdel-Latif Boureima

Edited in English by Ange Jason Quenum