Decarbonisation commitments are arriving faster than the measurement infrastructure needed to support them. The sequence matters.
Nigerian operators are facing transition expectations from three directions at once: national flare-down policy, lender disclosure requirements and partner commitments. The common response is to announce a target. The more useful first step is to be able to measure the baseline.
Inventory before target
A greenhouse gas inventory built to a recognised protocol establishes what is actually being emitted, from which sources, with what measurement confidence. Without it, a reduction target is unverifiable, and an unverifiable target is a disclosure liability rather than an asset.
What a workable roadmap contains
- A source-level inventory with documented measurement or estimation basis
- Abatement options costed against actual site conditions
- A marginal abatement curve that reflects Nigerian capital and operating costs
- Sequencing that respects the operator's real capital cycle
- Reporting infrastructure that can sustain annual disclosure
Flare reduction remains the single largest lever for most upstream operators, but the economics vary enormously by location, volume and available offtake. Generic roadmaps do not survive contact with a specific asset.
