MONETIZATION OF STRANDED NATURAL GAS IN NIGERIA: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Summary

Nigeria has one of the world’s largest gas endowments, with total reserves of 215.19 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) as of 1 January 2026, including 100.21 Tcf of associated gas and 114.98 Tcf of non-associated gas. Yet a meaningful share remains stranded because gathering, processing, transport, and bankable offtake have lagged upstream supply. Provisional 2025 data cited in Nigeria’s legal-regulatory overview indicate that 2.707 Tcf of gas was produced, 1.557 Tcf was used domestically, 0.943 Tcf was exported, and 203.97 Bscf—7.54% of output—was flared.
For Nigeria, stranded-gas monetization is not a niche upstream issue. It sits at the intersection of fiscal stability, electricity reliability, industrialization, foreign-exchange earnings, emissions reduction, and energy affordability. The strongest strategic case is therefore not simply to sell more gas abroad, but to convert currently wasted or inaccessible gas into domestic power, industrial feedstock, transport fuel, LPG, petrochemicals, and regionally tradable products.