World Bank has listed Nigeria, alongside United States, Russia and six other countries as accountable for over 83 per cent global gas flaring in 2025.

Nigeria remained one of the world’s largest gas-flaring countries in 2025.

This is just as recent data released by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) showed that oil and gas operators flared a combined 76.92 billion standard cubic feet of gas between the five months of this year fromJanuary and May 2026.

According to the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report released, Tuesday, the report identified Russia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Mexico, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, and the United States as the biggest contributors to global gas flaring, while more than 90 other oil-producing countries accounted for just 17 per cent of total flaring despite producing 54 per cent of global oil output.

According to the World Bank, Nigeria recorded increases in both oil production and gas flaring volumes during the year, underscoring persistent infrastructure challenges in the country’s oil and gas sector.

The World Bank noted that Nigeria’s flaring intensity remained largely unchanged in 2025, even as flare volumes and crude oil production increased.

Nigeria recorded an 8 per cent increase in gas flaring volumes alongside an 8 per cent rise in oil production during the year.

Flaring intensity remained broadly flat, unlike countries such as Mexico, Russia, Algeria, and Iran, which recorded increases.

Venezuela and the United States achieved reductions in flaring intensity of 11 per cent and 10 per cent, respectively.

Iraq, Libya, and Nigeria saw little or no change in flaring intensity compared to 2024.

“The share of total flaring from the top nine flaring countries – Russia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Mexico, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, and the United States – represents 83 percent of total flaring in 2025,” the report noted.

The report highlighted that several major oil-producing nations continue to demonstrate that crude oil can be produced with significantly lower levels of gas flaring.

According to the World Bank, inadequate infrastructure remains a major obstacle to reducing gas flaring in Nigeria.

Insufficient infrastructure to transport associated gas to markets continues to limit gas utilisation, the World Bank noted.

The report also noted that aging gas processing facilities and high downtime rates have contributed to elevated flaring levels.

World Bank stated that countries such as Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, and the United States successfully reduced flare volumes while maintaining or lowering flaring intensity.

Mexico, the Republic of Congo, and Vietnam recorded some of the largest increases in flaring intensity globally during the period.

The World Bank noted that countries participating in the Zero Routine Flaring (ZRF) initiative generally recorded better flaring performance than non-participating countries, although overall flaring among endorsing countries increased in 2025.

Meanwhile, according to the NMDPRA, the country flared approximately 76.9 billion standard cubic feet of natural gas under the first five months of this year alone.

NMDPRA noted that the situation further highlighted the continued challenge of converting the nation’s vast gas resources into economic value despite ongoing efforts to expand domestic energy supply.

According to NMDPRA, the volume represents gas that could have been utilised for electricity generation, industrial activities, compressed natural gas projects and cooking gas supply.

Data analysis of the report shows that 17.17 billion standard cubic feet of gas were flared in January, followed by 14.09 billion cubic feet in February.

March recorded 15.58 billion cubic feet, while April and May accounted for 14.52 billion and 15.58 billion cubic feet, respectively.

Although Nigeria possesses more than 200 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves, one of the largest in Africa, a substantial portion of associated gas produced alongside crude oil continues to be burnt rather than processed for commercial use.

Nigeria has introduced several initiatives to address the challenge, including the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme and various provisions under the Petroleum Industry Act designed to encourage gas utilisation and discourage routine flaring.

The government has also repeatedly pledged to eliminate routine gas flaring by 2030 as part of its environmental commitments and broader energy transition agenda.

However, most producing assets lack the gathering systems, processing facilities, pipelines and transportation networks required to capture and commercialise associated gas efficiently.

The NUPRC recently disclosed that projects approved under the Nigerian Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme are expected to attract billions of dollars in investments and recover substantial volumes of gas that would otherwise be lost through flaring.

Meanwhile, the country hasrecorded progress in reducing flare rates compared to previous decades despite prevailing challenges, even as significant hurdles in fully unlocking the economic and energy value of its gas resources persist.