Nigeria’s Gas Flaring Challenge Puts Focus on Engineering Reliability in Texas.

Nigeria’s struggle to reduce routine gas flaring is drawing attention to the equipment failures, processing constraints and infrastructure gaps that prevent associated gas from reaching commercial markets.

The timing is sensitive for Nigeria. Data from the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) show the country flared 7.48% of its gas output in August 2026, about 18.35 billion standard cubic feet, the highest rate since October 2025. This is almost unchanged from 2025 as a whole, when Nigeria flared roughly 204 billion standard cubic feet, or 7.54% of total production.

The figures have renewed questions about whether gas recovery investments are being matched by the maintenance and operational systems needed to keep facilities running. In West Texas, a Nigerian engineer’s work provides one example of the practical challenges involved.

“Reducing gas flaring requires a sustained focus on equipment reliability, effective maintenance and continuous improvements in gas recovery systems. Through careful engineering and operational collaboration, we have worked to minimize unnecessary flaring while maintaining safe and efficient production,” Ms. Makut said.

“Flaring is often treated as an unavoidable cost of producing oil. It isn’t. When compressors stay online and vapor recovery units have the capacity they need, the gas has somewhere to go besides the flare stack. Most of what we achieved came from making equipment more reliable, not from one big project,” Ms. Makut said.

The reduction was reported for the Pecos facilities, not for Chevron’s operations as a whole. It does not establish that identical improvements would follow in Nigeria, where gathering networks, processing capacity and field conditions differ.

The facilities Ms. Makut supports are the nerve center of the field. Oil and gas from 330 producing wells flow into five Process Safety Management (PSM) Central Gathering Facilities, where it is separated, treated, compressed and prepared for sale. Together they handle a combined gross output of 40,000 barrels of oil per day, roughly 120 barrels per well.

The PSM designation means the plants handle highly hazardous materials, so no change happens without scrutiny. Ms. Makut is the primary technical contributor to the safety processes that govern these facilities, including Management of Change, Process Hazard Analysis, Pre-Startup Safety Review and Surface Facility Optimization. She also writes the Critical and Standard Operating Procedures that operators follow daily and leads investigations when incidents occur.

The reduction came from three areas of work: improving compressor reliability, expanding the capacity of vapor recovery units, which capture gas that would otherwise escape, and upgrading the facilities’ control systems. The work also kept the facilities within the flaring and venting rules of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

The changes matter because compressors and recovery equipment determine how much associated gas can be processed rather than routed to a flare. Reliability improvements therefore affect both production operations and emissions.

Her remit goes well beyond emissions. Ms. Makut leads new projects from concept selection through front-end engineering, construction, startup and commissioning, including new facilities, debottlenecking work and water strategy projects. She carries out root cause failure analysis, contributes to Reliability, Availability and Maintainability studies, maintains reliability dashboards and plans turnaround maintenance under Chevron’s IMPACT process.

Nigeria has made its intentions clear. In June 2026, the NUPRC restated its commitment to ending routine gas flaring and sharply cutting methane emissions. Industry stakeholders have argued that threats to revoke licenses will not be enough on their own. They point to the need for gas infrastructure, fair pricing and investment, while a World Bank assessment has highlighted aging gas processing facilities prone to disruption.

“The technology to stop routine flaring already exists. What makes it work is discipline: knowing why every flare event happens, fixing the root cause and keeping equipment running. Nigerian engineers are more than capable of doing this, and every cubic foot we burn is energy and revenue the country cannot afford to waste,” she said.

The engineering lessons extend beyond a single installation. Operators seeking to reduce routine flaring need reliable equipment, sufficient gas-handling capacity and documented responses to recurring failures.

Her story also speaks to a gap in the industry itself. Women remain underrepresented on oil and gas sites in Nigeria and abroad, and many girls are still steered away from engineering classrooms. Today Ms. Makut mentors engineers in Chevron’s Central Area Team.

“Don’t let anyone convince you that a plant site is not your place. Learn the fundamentals, ask questions and volunteer for the hard problems. In the field, competence earns respect faster than anything else,” she said, addressing young Nigerian women considering engineering.

Nigeria’s flaring figures show the scale of the remaining challenge. The experience at Pecos illustrates a narrower but relevant point: operational reliability is one measurable part of gas conservation, alongside investment in infrastructure and commercial markets.