At the 110th edition of Nextier Power Dialogue, experts underscored Nigeria’s untapped flare-to-power potential, warning that the country’s daily gas flaring activities amid widespread energy poverty represent not just environmental harm but massive lost economic value.
The session, hosted by The Electricity Hub on Wednesday, September 29, was titled: “Tackling Gas Flaring Through Infrastructure: Building a Sustainable Natural Gas Future for Nigeria.”
The panel, moderated by Emeka Okpukpara, Partner, Nextier, featured notable speakers, including Mohammed N. Mijindadi, President of GE Nigeria and Managing Director of GE Gas Power Systems (GPS)/GE Vernova for Anglophone and Francophone Africa; Dantala Wright, Commercial Gas Advisor at Gas Aggregation Company Nigeria Limited (GACN); and Sheri Adegbenro, Chief Audit and Compliance Officer at Eko Electricity Distribution PLC (EKEDC).
Lost Opportunity
Mijindadi emphasised the persistent challenge of Africa’s and Nigeria’s unmet need for power, often referred to as a global joke. He explained that, beyond the environmental damage caused by indiscriminate gas flaring, the greater loss lies in the missed economic opportunities.
According to him, the molecules wasted through flaring could be processed for multiple purposes: providing electricity not only in regions where the sites are located but also in other areas, or being commercialised as compressed natural gas for local and international markets.
The President of GE Nigeria and Managing Director of GE Gas Power Systems (GPS)/GE Vernova highlighted that only 50 per cent of Nigerians have access to electricity, while millions of cubic feet of gas are flared daily.
Harnessing this gas, he argued, could significantly reduce the country’s power challenges. The real issue, he explained, is not the absence of molecules but the lack of investment in technologies capable of capturing, processing, storing, and transporting gas for responsible use in power generation.
Addressing Nigeria’s flare-to-power opportunity, he noted that tackling gas flaring directly impacts reducing energy poverty and advancing decarbonisation. He pointed to the critical role of government in providing policy and regulatory frameworks and the responsibility of the private sector, investors, and developers to innovate and implement lasting solutions.
Mijindadi underlined GE Vernova’s role within the power value chain, adding that the company has witnessed the frustrations of many developers. He argued that bridging the gap between flared gas and power generation is key to solving Nigeria’s power availability problem. He also stressed the importance of supportive gas flaring policies, particularly as developers face challenges ranging from land acquisition and licensing to sourcing gas in competition with global markets. Pricing, he added, is another major hurdle.
He explained that abundant gas near production sites can improve logistics and pricing, but developers still face multiple issues: gas availability, competitive pricing, and affordable transportation.
However, he noted that pipeline vandalism has spurred concepts such as locating small modular power plants closer to flare sites to minimise losses — an approach explored in the Afam project. Lessons from this project revealed that while the idea was promising, many flare sites lacked sufficient gas volumes to justify large turbines, though smaller sub-1MW turbines could still be viable.
Following discussions at the Power Dialogue, Mijindadi proposed solutions such as identifying flare sites, justifying modular unit installations, and aggregating gas volumes to attract larger players like GE Vernova, whose turbines typically serve capacities of 30 megawatts and above.
He suggested that modular flare catchers — equipment capable of trapping and treating gas at flare sites — could provide immediate, short-term power solutions, especially for industrial zones, with surplus gas supplied to the national grid.
For larger volumes, he emphasised the need for investment in pipeline networks to aggregate gas for centralised treatment and supply to bigger power plants serving industrial zones or feeding into the grid.
He pointed to technologies such as mainline gas connections, ACNG for virtual pipelines, and trucking systems to move gas molecules from remote sites, particularly onshore assets. He cited floating storage units and similar technologies as viable options for treatment and utilisation for offshore flare sites.
Infrastructure Gaps
Dantala Wright, Commercial Gas Advisor at Gas Aggregation Company Nigeria Limited (GACN), observed that brownfield and greenfield sites lacking gas-gathering facilities present challenges.
While some flare sites are technically easy to harness, he explained that they often do not make commercial sense in utilisation. On a positive note, he pointed out several fossil plants near some of these sites, but issues such as gas cleaning and pipeline availability remain unresolved.
The Commercial Gas Advisor at GACN further highlighted that Nigeria’s national transmission pipeline is still incomplete, leaving gas evacuation to rely on compressed natural gas (CNG) or renewable energy solutions — both of which remain challenging due to enabling infrastructure gaps.
Responding to a question on the Decade of Gas initiative and the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP), Wright emphasised that the Decade of Gas has made the gas programme a national priority since gas has been identified as a transition fuel. At the same time, NGFCP has enabled third-party bidders to commercialise flare sites — a shift away from flaring.
He noted, however, that many of the pipeline projects remain at early stages, primarily in financing and pre-construction. Regulators and industrial players, he added, are being engaged to close the gaps and move toward commercialisation.
Wright explained that regulatory oversight lies with the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) for midstream and downstream activities, while the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) oversees upstream operations. He acknowledged that though the Decade of Gas initiative is conceptually sound, implementation has been slow due to infrastructure, demand, and supply challenges.
The Commercial Gas Advisor also disclosed that studies conducted on non-associated gas fields revealed developers’ reluctance to pursue projects without clear offtake arrangements or bankable solutions. He confirmed that a study on this matter had been completed and the report submitted for review.
Offering recommendations on closing Nigeria’s gas infrastructure gap and accelerating gas-to-power delivery, Wright suggested that government and industry players prioritise completing midstream infrastructure while adopting modular strategies, such as trucking CNG.
He further recommended blended financing, in which the government and financiers jointly attract private investors to close funding gaps, thereby reducing the financial burden on the government. Additionally, he stressed the need to strengthen market signals through level pricing and effective regulations.
Gas Indispensability
Speaking from the Disco side, Adegbenro explained that discussions in the boardroom focus less on gas flaring and more on electricity, since increased electricity supply ultimately reaches end users.
She emphasised that resolving gas flaring would lead to more electricity, as gas transported through pipelines to the generation companies (Gencos) enables them to generate power for the distribution companies.
According to the Chief Audit and Compliance Officer at EKEDC, the distribution companies recognise gas as the transition fuel, even with the growing role of renewables in the energy mix. In her view, gas remains indispensable, and within the energy transition framework, it provides the right balance for economic sense and supports the pathway toward ending routine gas flaring.
Adegbenro pointed out that the electricity tariff is band-based and cost-reflective. She observed that investors are keen on moving customers from Band E to Band A, which generates higher revenue. However, she argued that closing gaps in the sector, franchise areas, and the value chain would allow the downstream sector to deliver better commodities that distribution companies supply to end users.
She highlighted pockets of Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and renewable energy projects within Eko’s franchise areas. According to her, the company understands the associated constraints while the gas pipeline network and gas flaring sites are located further south and outside Eko’s jurisdiction.
Supplying gas to IPPs not owned by Eko requires processing plants and pipelines of sufficient capacity, and the greater the distance between flaring sites and power generation points, the more pipeline infrastructure is needed. Since Eko functions solely as a distribution company, these issues fall outside its direct operations.
Adegbenro stressed that overlapping policies must be addressed. Regulators and stakeholders, she argued, need to harmonise policies, remove outdated ones, and ensure that overlaps are synergised rather than conflicting, which would pave the way for more effective enforcement.
Finally, the Chief Audit and Compliance Officer underscored the importance of revenue assurance, which depends on accurate energy accounting—knowing precisely where distributed power is going. She noted that this requires statistical meters, feeder meters, distribution transformer (DT) meters, and customer meters. These help eliminate estimated billing and provide reliable tracking of energy flows and expected revenue.
Pollution Risk
While recapping the session, Okpukpara noted that gas accounts for 85 per cent of power generation, stressing the need to strengthen the Decade of Gas initiative to grow the sector. He pointed out that in the first quarter, Nigeria flared 25 per cent more gas than in the previous quarter.
He noted that the top global gas-flaring nations (which account for about 75-76% of flared gas globally) are Russia, Iran, Iraq, the United States, Venezuela, Algeria, Libya, Mexico, and Nigeria.
Reflecting on progress, Okpukpara recalled that the first Power Dialogue was held in 2016, with the second edition focused on implementing off-grid technologies. According to him, if it had been predicted that the World Bank would provide $1.5 billion to support the off-grid space through the development of mini-grids, many would have dismissed it as impossible. Yet, he noted, this was already achieved in one tranche, with a second tranche underway.
The Partner at Nextier highlighted that government foresight in creating a renewable energy market has led to the growth of about 300 mini-grid developers, 80 per cent of whom are less than five years old. In his view, this demonstrates the impact of vision and determination to solve problems. He expressed hope that the government would also recognise Nigeria’s rising gas flaring levels and take initiatives to address the issue.
He cautioned that rising gas flaring will worsen pollution, making achieving net-zero emissions by 2060 even more difficult. He explained that pipeline vandalism is one key reason for flaring, which often forces operators to dispose of gas in unsustainable ways. Okpukpara further argued that providing grants and supporting proof-of-concept projects would make the sector commercially viable and attractive to investors.
Finally, stakeholders noted that by accelerating investments in flare capture technologies, modular power solutions, and critical midstream infrastructure, the country can convert wasted molecules into reliable electricity, reduce energy poverty, and drive economic growth.
Experts at the Power Dialogue further recommended that the government provide clear, consistent policies, while the private sector brings innovation, financing, and execution capacity. Together, stakeholders have the responsibility and opportunity to end routine flaring, strengthen the Decade of Gas, and position gas as a transition fuel and a catalyst for sustainable development, energy security, and a cleaner future for all Nigerians.