The national oil company says it is prioritising gas development, flare recovery and emission reduction while calling for increased investment to unlock the sector’s potential…..
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) has placed natural gas at the heart of its long-term energy strategy, describing it as both a transition fuel and a key part of Nigeria’s energy future.
The company says it is stepping up efforts to develop gas resources, recover gas currently being flared and reduce emissions from its operations, while maintaining the country’s energy security and supporting economic growth.
The Manager of Sustainability Strategy, Standards and Policy at NNPC Limited, Philemon Yilleng, disclosed this on Tuesday during a panel discussion on decarbonising Africa’s energy value chain at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP31, in Antalya, Türkiye.
Yilleng said the company had identified gas as a cleaner alternative and was developing the policies, strategies and partnerships needed to make decarbonisation a key part of its operations.
“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,” he said.
He explained that NNPC’s approach was guided by the Petroleum Industry Act, which requires the company to balance energy security, environmental responsibility and commercial viability.
According to him, the company is focusing on immediate measures that can reduce its environmental footprint, including cutting operational emissions, recovering flared gas and improving efficiency.
“Now, for us in NNPC Limited, what we have been able to do is to identify the basics. And that’s what I think you’re trying to ask me. What are the basics? Try to take advantage of the quick wins, such as maintain emission reduction, flare recovery, and as well as optimise our processes,” Yilleng stated.
He added that decarbonisation had become central to the company’s energy transition plans, requiring changes in how it conducts business and makes operational decisions.
“Our strategy is decarbonisation, which is an element of energy transition. So, what that speaks to us is that we will be doing in our business, not as usual, but ensuring that we reduce our emission and leave the environment better than how we met it,” he said.
Yilleng also said NNPC had established sustainability policies and frameworks, including a measurement, reporting and verification system to monitor emissions and assess progress.
He noted that the company was working with regulators, joint venture partners and financiers to ensure that its environmental commitments were implemented across its operations rather than remaining at management level.
“We are collaborating with our regulators, our joint venture partners, our financiers also, to ensure that we integrate sustainability in our businesses and operations, so that it’s not just going to be a buy-in from the board alone, but to demonstrate that even at the bottom, at the operational level, we are putting things in place to ensure that we deliver that much-expected value,” he added.
However, Yilleng identified inadequate financing as a major obstacle to accelerating gas development and Nigeria’s broader energy transition.
He argued that the country’s substantial gas resources could help address energy poverty, support industrial growth and strengthen energy security if sufficient investment was channelled into the sector.
“For us in NNPC, I think one of the greatest barriers that I see as a gap is the identification of gas as a transition fuel. Now, what I mean by that is that there is a need for gas to be financed. Let’s have this transition financed for gas, because for us, we’ve identified gas as a cleaner alternative,” he said.
The Managing Director of Carbon Limits, Stephanie Saunier, acknowledged the progress NNPC had made in developing its emissions measurement, reporting and verification framework over the past 12 to 18 months.
She described the progress as significant but stressed the need for the company to advance towards actual field measurements to strengthen the reliability of its emissions data.
“Credible data is more like a journey than just an end. And I must first say something on the journey that NNPC has been going over the last 12-18 months. The NNPC is maybe one of the fastest NOC we have been working with. There’s been enormous progress done inside the company to create this credible data,” Saunier said.
Also speaking, the Assistant Director and Head of Environment Management and Sustainability at the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Celina Evbuomwan, identified limited technology, infrastructure and financing as major barriers to reducing emissions.
She explained that inadequate and poorly distributed infrastructure around gas-producing facilities had restricted operators’ ability to capture flared gas and redirect it for electricity generation and industrial applications.
