NUPRC sets 2027 deadline for oil firms to adopt measured emissions reporting

By Onu Okorie

Oil and gas operators in Nigeria will be required to abandon estimation-based emissions reporting and move to actual measurement of methane and greenhouse gas emissions by the first quarter of 2027, as the Federal Government tightens environmental compliance across the petroleum industry.
The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) disclosed this in Abuja following the handover of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Emission Tracker (NOGIET), a digital surveillance platform expected to give regulators greater capacity to independently monitor emissions and detect discrepancies in data submitted by operators.
The development could significantly strengthen regulatory scrutiny of oil companies, as the platform combines satellite detection of methane plumes with facility-level measurements and the mapping of oil blocks, pipelines and other petroleum infrastructure.
Nigeria is targeting a 60 per cent reduction in methane emissions by 2035 as part of broader efforts to eliminate routine gas flaring and achieve net-zero emissions by 2060.
NOGIET was formally handed over to the Commission Chief Executive of NUPRC, Mrs Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Eyesan, represented by the Executive Commissioner, Health, Safety, Environment and Community, Captain John Tonlagha, said the deployment of the technology would support implementation of the commission’s 2022 Guidelines for the Management of Fugitive Methane and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Upstream Oil and Gas Sector.
Under the guidelines, operators are expected to transition from estimates to measurement-based emissions reporting by the first quarter of 2027.
The shift means regulators will increasingly be able to compare emissions figures declared by companies with independently generated satellite and facility-level data, potentially making it easier to identify under-reporting and other compliance gaps.
According to Eyesan, NOGIET integrates satellite-based methane plume detection, regulatory mapping of oil blocks and pipelines, as well as facility-level emissions measurements.
She said the system would enable regulators to identify emission hotspots, detect discrepancies in reported figures, prioritise inspections and strengthen enforcement.
The NUPRC chief said effective integration of the platform into the commission’s regulatory monitoring and data-management systems would also improve the credibility, consistency and reliability of emissions information across the industry.
The initiative forms part of the regulator’s digital transformation programme and Nigeria’s wider strategy for reducing methane emissions from petroleum operations.
NOGIET was developed through a partnership involving the Stakeholder Democracy Network (SDN), with financial and technical support from the Global Methane Hub.
Significantly, the platform is designed for use by both the NUPRC and the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), providing a common technology platform for monitoring methane across different segments of Nigeria’s petroleum industry.
Eyesan commended the Global Methane Hub for its financial and technical assistance and SDN for its leadership and coordination in developing the system.
Speaking at the handover, Chairman of the Board of SDN, Mr Inemo Samiama, said combining satellite observations with measurements taken at petroleum facilities would provide regulators with stronger evidence for enforcement.
He said the organisation was transferring both the front-end and back-end infrastructure of NOGIET to the regulator at no cost.
“SDN hands over NOGIET in full, front end and back end, at no cost to the Commission,” Samiama said.
He explained that the platform would subsequently be transferred from its temporary website to the commission’s own digital infrastructure.
Samiama added that a unified monitoring architecture was necessary because methane emissions cut across the different operational segments of the petroleum industry.
“Because methane does not stop at the boundary between upstream and downstream, NOGIET is designed as one platform for the whole oil and gas sector,” he said.
The deployment of NOGIET is expected to give regulators a stronger technological basis for verifying operators’ emissions declarations, targeting inspections at high-risk facilities and enforcing Nigeria’s increasingly stringent methane-control requirements.
With the first-quarter 2027 measurement deadline approaching, operators could consequently face greater pressure to install appropriate monitoring systems and ensure that emissions data submitted to regulators can withstand independent verification.