Capacity building for the development of policies to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector in Nigeria

Year

2020

2022

Beneficiary

Nigeria

Funding

CCAC Funded

Implementing partners

Nigeria, Clean Air Task Force

Nigeria’s national action plan for short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) calls for regulation of methane and black carbon from the oil and gas sector. The plan has set a target of a 50 percent reduction in methane leakage and “flare out” by 2030, at which time all but emergency flaring must cease. Nigeria has also joined the Global Methane Alliance, pledging to further cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 60-70%.

While these goals are aggressive, they can be attained with available technology and sound policy. Achieving these goals would achieve reductions equivalent to removing roughly 8.5 million cars from the road. More importantly, it could set a critical precedent for other countries in the region and around the globe. 

This project provided technical and policy assistance to Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment and Department of Petroleum Resources to strengthen their institutional capacity to achieve its SLCP reduction targets.

The activities under this project are funded by the Coalition's Action Programme to Address the 1.5˚C Challenge, a programme developed by Coalition partners in response to the IPCC 1.5˚C Special Report which emphasizes the need for early action on all climate forcing emissions, including short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), as part of the pathway to stay well below 2˚C.

Objectives

Nigeria has cut flaring by an impressive 70 percent since 2000. However, nearly 150 flares were still burning in 2018, wasting an estimated 17 billion cubic feet of natural gas and threatening the health of the 2.6 million people who live within four kilometers of a flare.

Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment and Department of Petroleum Resources have requested support from the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to identify the main emissions sources and abatement options for the oil and gas sector which will help to inform the development of policies and programmes, as well as Nigeria’s revised National Determined Contribution (NDC).

Activities

Through our implementing partners Clean Air Task Force (CATF) and Carbon Limits Nigeria, several activities were carried out to develop the needed capacity in Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Environment, Department of Petroleum Resources, and other supporting agencies and ministries:

A Best Practices Workshop brought together relevant agencies and ministries to build understanding of methane issues and relevant technological and operational solutions.
Inventory Development Workshops provided insight into ways to improve current estimates of emissions and abatement potential.
CCAC partners worked directly with Federal Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Department of Petroleum Resources staff to create a road map for developing policies for methane abatement. Support was provided in the form of regulatory text proposals and recommendations for using this work to inform Nigeria’s revised NDC.
A final report and regulatory framework for implementation (draft guidelines to abate methane emissions from the Nigerian oil and gas industry) was presented to the ministries and Department of Petroleum Resources which aimed to be used as reference for the revision of the Oil and Gas section in Nigeria’s revised NDC report for 2020.

As part of the ongoing collaboration, Nigerian Officials were invited to participate and share their experience to reduce GHG emissions from the oil and gas industry in a panel during the Conference of the Parties (COP) 26 in Edinburgh, Scotland at the Methane Moment pavilion. This interview can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAlXHzC8PS0&t=1153s