The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL says natural gas and improved flare recovery will play a central role in its decarbonisation strategy, as it seeks investment and partnerships to reduce operational emissions while expanding energy access.
These issues dominated discussions at a high-level panel session at the Nigerian Pavilion on the sidelines of COP31 in Antalya, Türkiye.
Nigeria officially identifies natural gas as a central and critical transition fuel in its national energy and climate strategy.
The country’s energy transition is however not just about climate commitments but also about access to reliable electricity, economic opportunities and a cleaner environment.
Against this backdrop, the NNPCL is positioning natural gas as a major driver of the country’s energy future.
Speaking at this high-level panel on decarbonising Africa’s energy value chain, the company’s Manager, Sustainability Strategy, Standards and Policy, Philemon Yilleng, said gas would remain central to its transition strategy.
“Now we have been able to identify gas as our transition fuel. So for us, gas is not just a transition fuel, but our destination fuel. So we want to identify gas as a cleaner alternative for us.”
The ambition, however, comes with a difficult balancing act.
Nigeria wants to expand gas-fired power generation, address energy poverty and attract investment, while also meeting its climate commitments and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
But financing remains a major obstacle, particularly as international climate finance increasingly places restrictions on support for new fossil fuel projects.
Yilleng said NNPCL’s approach was guided by the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA, which requires the company to balance energy security, environmental responsibility and commercial viability.
He maintained that Nigeria’s abundant gas resources could support industrialisation, strengthen electricity supply and create economic opportunities if the necessary investments were mobilised.
Beyond expanding gas utilisation, participants identified the recovery of gas currently lost through flaring as an important opportunity to reduce emissions while making more energy available for productive use.
They also identified inadequate infrastructure, technology, credible data to establish how much pollution companies generate and how effectively they are reducing it as well as financing as major constraints.
For Nigeria, the challenge is how to expand energy access without deepening the environmental burden on communities, while ensuring that energy transition creates tangible economic benefits.
“This story was produced as part of the COP31 Climate Change Media Partnership,
a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, Informed Earth and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.”
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(Editor: Terverr Tyav)
