By Ayo Kehinde
Nigeria remained one of the world’s largest gas-flaring nations in 2025, ranking among nine countries responsible for 83 percent of global gas flaring, according to the World Bank’s latest Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report.
The report, released on Tuesday, identified Russia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Mexico, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria and the United States as the biggest contributors to gas flaring worldwide.
Collectively, these countries accounted for 83 percent of total gas flared globally, despite representing a fraction of oil-producing nations.
In contrast, more than 90 other oil-producing countries were responsible for just 17 percent of global flaring while contributing 54 percent of total oil production, highlighting significant differences in flaring performance across the industry.
According to the World Bank, Nigeria recorded an 8 per cent increase in gas flaring volumes in 2025, matching an 8 percent rise in crude oil production.
Despite the increase, the country’s flaring intensity the volume of gas flared per barrel of oil produced remained largely unchanged from the previous year.
The report attributed the trend to persistent infrastructure and operational challenges within Nigeria’s oil and gas sector.
While countries such as Mexico, Russia, Algeria and Iran recorded increases in flaring intensity, Venezuela and the United States achieved reductions of 11 percent and 10 percent respectively. Iraq, Libya and Nigeria saw little or no change compared to 2024.
“The share of total flaring from the top nine flaring countries represents 83 percent of total flaring in 2025,” the report stated.
The World Bank also noted that countries participating in the Zero Routine Flaring (ZRF) initiative generally performed better than non-participating nations.
Nigeria has repeatedly pledged to end routine gas flaring and unlock greater value from its vast natural gas reserves, estimated at more than 200 trillion cubic feet, among the largest in Africa.
Successive governments have introduced policies aimed at commercialising flared gas and reducing emissions.
