Nigeria’s gas flaring rate climbed to 7.48% in August 2026, the highest level recorded since October 2025, as the volume of gas flared rose to 18,350.55 million standard cubic feet (MMSCF).
This is according to data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC).
Analysis of the data by Nairametrics reveals that the August figure is the highest since October 2025 when it was 7.55%.
The latest increase came despite gas utilisation remaining relatively high at 92.5% during the month, with 227,088.59 MMSCF used for field operations, domestic supply and exports.
Nigeria produced 245,439.13 MMSCF of gas in August, comprising associated and non-associated gas.
The 2026 monthly data shows that gas flaring remained above 6% throughout the first eight months of the year.
The deterioration is also evident when compared with August 2025.
This represents a year-on-year increase of 1,621.20 MMSCF, or 9.7%, in the volume of gas flared, while the flaring rate increased by 0.11 percentage points.
Total gas production also rose from 227,015.22 MMSCF in August 2025 to 245,439.13 MMSCF in August 2026, an increase of about 8.1%.
NUPRC data showed that the country flared 203,965 MMSCF, equivalent to about 203.9 billion standard cubic feet, in 2025, even though overall gas utilisation stood at 92.4%.
Nigeria also recorded a 12% increase in gas flaring in 2024, according to World Bank data, placing it among countries with significant increases in flared volumes that year.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria recorded an 8% increase in gas flaring volumes alongside an 8% rise in oil production in 2025.
In October 2025, NUPRC unveiled a comprehensive Gas Development Roadmap aimed at unlocking over 55 trillion cubic feet of uncommitted gas reserves and attracting billions of dollars in new investments across Nigeria’s gas value chain.
