Gas Production, Utilization, Flaring and Processing: The Nexus of Modern Energy Landscape and Evolving Lower Carbon Environment, Nigeria

Abstract

Nigeria is more of a gas than an oil province. Clean and reliable energy is inevitable to grow its economy. Moreso, there is a global shift to gas and renewable to power lower carbon industrial growth. With a 210 TCF gas reserve deposit and a life index of 94 years, the country can play a major role in this energy security for the Africa continent and international community. The study thus assessed the gas potential for the modern energy landscape. Collected data were interpreted to evaluate the feasibility and viability to enhance its economic development. Gas production stood at 7.59bcf/Day as at July 2025 with 6.91bscf/Day and 6.99 bscf/Day recorded in 2023 and 2024 respectively. A total of 2.511,345 TCF of Associated and Non-Associated Gas recorded in 2024 with 7.64% flared. This represents a slight increase of about 0.53% compared to year 2023. Utilization ranges from in-house gas consumption fuel, re-injection for reservoir pressure enhancement and sales to domestic and export markets through Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas. Out of 2.511 TCF of gas produced in 2025, a total of 0.1918 TCF was flared. This represents 0.28% difference compared with the 7.36% flaring recorded in 2014. In 2014 alone, about 295 bscf of natural gas was flared leading to a massive loss of about $1billion in revenue. 2024 flare rate has shown a significant reduction with 191.834.6 mmscf of flared natural gas with a revenue loss of $133.716 million. In essence, 2014 to 2024 has revealed $877 million saved from gas flaring including drastic reduction in health hazards and environmental destruction of ecosystems. Domestic Gas Delivery Obligation performance record delivered 72.5% in July, up from 71.8% in June. 72.2% in January rose to 73.5% in February, dipped slightly to 70.8% in March, before climbing to 73.7% and 73.0% in April and May respectively all of 2025. Current major processing of natural gas is to produce CNG through the Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (PCNGI). 27 mother stations (compression hubs), 63 daughter stations (refueling outlets) and 242 certified vehicle CNG conversion centers achieved in 2025. Nigeria is thus gradually shifting to an eco-friendly economy to ensure low and net zero carbon target of 2030 and 2060 for a cleaner and egalitarian society.