Seven countries, including Nigeria, contributed about two-thirds of the gas flared in 2020. The other countries are Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, and Venezuela.
Out of 141.38 billion cubic metres (bcm) flared in 2020, these seven countries contributed 91.63 bcm, 64.8% of total gas flared globally.
These seven countries have remained the top contributors to global gas flaring in the last nine years.
There was a decline in gas flaring in 2020 due to the pandemic as it affected the production, demand, and supply of petroleum products. As global oil production declined by 8% in 2020, the volume of flared gas reduced by 4.8%. Until 2020, the volume of gas flared by these seven countries’ has increased progressively from 2013 at 81.48 bcm to 98.5 bcm in 2019.
Over the last nine years, these seven countries’ contributions have increased steadily from more than half to almost two-third. In 2012, the proportion contributed by the counties was 57.48% of the total flared gas. This increased even when global flared gas dropped in 2016 and 2017.
The percentage rose to two-third of the total global flared gas in 2019, where they contributed 99.33% before the proportion dropped slightly to 64.8% in 2020.
By ranking, Russia flared the highest of the seven countries as 24.1 bcm was flared in 2020. Iraq and Iran were in second and third place as their volume of flared gas was 17.4 bcm and 13.3 bcm, respectively. Of the 7 countries, Nigeria flared the least gas as 7.2 bcm of gas was flared by the country in 2020.
Gas flaring, which is the combustion of natural gas in the extraction process, happens due to varying issues. These issues include market and economic constraints, lack of adequate regulation, and political play.
This activity causes a loss of energy resources annually. The volume of flared gas was estimated at $12.94 billion in 2020. The loss to these seven countries was $8.39 billion, making up 64.8% of the total loss.
While this flared gas results in a loss in energy resources and possible revenue to these countries, they pose other problems. The increasing volume of flared gas annually impacts negatively on the climate.
Over the last nine years, 3.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2 have been released globally due to gas flaring. Nigeria and the other six countries released 2.2 billion tonnes of CO2, making 63.24% of total C02 emissions from flaring.
Curbing gas flaring should be an integral part of climate protection measures as many countries including Nigeria have made commitments towards net zero emissions. Asides from the commercial benefit of conservation of energy resources and potential revenue earnings, reducing gas flaring will move the world even further towards net zero emissions.