For years, residents of Obite, Obagi and neighbouring communities in Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni Local Government Area of Rivers State have watched flames rise above TotalEnergies’ oil services, illuminating the evening and, they are saying, altering the lives of individuals dwelling closest to the corporate’s operations.
The flames didn’t disappear after TotalEnergies introduced that it had achieved what it described as a landmark environmental milestone. Instead, residents instructed PREMIUM TIMES that the flaring continued.
In July, PREMIUM TIMES visited communities round Oil Mining Lease 58, TotalEnergies’ principal onshore asset in Nigeria, and noticed flare stacks burning days and nights.
At the corporate’s facility in Obite, two flare stacks had been seen. One burned with a big, intense flame whereas one other produced a smaller flame. At Obagi, residence to the Obagi Oil Field, PREMIUM TIMES noticed two different flare stacks burning constantly throughout the interval our reporter visited.
TotalEnergies in its personal public disclosures determine December 2023 as the purpose at which routine flaring was eradicated from OML 100, which it described because the final Nigerian asset the place routine flaring remained.
But knowledge reviewed by PREMIUM TIMES, discipline observations and accounts from residents point out that substantial flaring exercise has continued round OML 58 for the reason that announcement. Other authorities knowledge additionally present that gasoline flare has elevated on one other upstream asset of TotalEnergies after the announcement.
The firm has not defined the precise classification of the flaring noticed by PREMIUM TIMES as its officers didn’t reply to repeated requests for clarification, leaving a essential a part of the corporate’s environmental claim untested.
The remark doesn’t, by itself, set up that the corporate has continued routine flaring in breach of its dedication. TotalEnergies distinguishes routine flaring from non-routine and security flaring, and flare exercise can happen for causes apart from routine disposal of related gasoline.
However, the corporate has not offered the asset-level knowledge, classification information or regulatory documentation wanted to independently set up what the flames noticed round OML 58 are. That hole is on the coronary heart of this investigation.
The observations increase a query about one of the distinguished environmental claims made by the French power large in Nigeria: if routine flaring ended throughout TotalEnergies’ Nigerian operations in 2023, what precisely are the flames that communities proceed to see?
The promise
On 2 December 2023 at COP28 in Dubai, TotalEnergies joined 49 different oil and gasoline firms that signed the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter.
The constitution commits signatories to intention for net-zero operational emissions by or earlier than 2050, near-zero upstream methane emissions by 2030 and the elimination of routine flaring by 2030. It additionally requires emissions monitoring, reporting and verification and improved alignment with trade greatest practices.
TotalEnergies moved rapidly to showcase its progress in Nigeria the place it operates 5 belongings; OML 58, 99, 100, 102, and 130.
On 18 December 2023, throughout a gathering with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné announced that the corporate had ended routine gasoline flaring throughout its operations in Nigeria.
The firm’s definition of routine flaring aligns with the definition contained within the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission’s (NUPRC) Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions Regulations 2023.
TotalEnergies defines routine flaring as flaring throughout regular manufacturing operations the place there are inadequate services or insufficient geological situations to reinject, use or promote the gasoline produced.
NUPRC equally distinguishes routine flaring from security flaring, expressly stating that routine flaring doesn’t embrace security flaring, even the place security flaring is steady.
But the Nigerian rules additionally create a class of what they describe as “Non-Routine Flaring”.
Under the rules, non-routine flaring covers flaring apart from routine flaring and is usually intermittent and of brief length, whether or not deliberate or unplanned.
The class consists of short-term failure of apparatus dealing with gasoline throughout regular operations, short-term failure of services that stops receipt of flare gasoline, security flaring, preliminary plant or discipline start-up, start-up after shutdowns, scheduled preventive upkeep and inspections, building actions and modifications in working situations.
It additionally covers course of upsets requiring flaring to stabilise a course of, reservoir or effectively upkeep actions, and exploration, appraisal or production-well testing or clean-up following drilling or work-over actions.
That means the existence of flames at OML 58 doesn’t, by itself, invalidate TotalEnergies’ declaration. Yet, it makes one other query unavoidable.
If routine flaring has ended, what regulatory class applies to the flare exercise that continues to be? How often does it happen? What triggers the flare? How lengthy does every flare final? How a lot gasoline is being burned? And has NUPRC verified the operator’s classification?
Those are questions that may solely be answered by asset-level operational and regulatory information.
If routine flaring has ended, communities, regulators and the general public ought to be capable of decide how persevering with flare occasions are categorized, they need to be defined to why the flares from the 4 stacks of their group has not been “intermittent and of short duration” as offered within the regulation, they need to decide how a lot gasoline is concerned and whether or not they adjust to regulatory necessities.
However, the unresolved query is whether or not the persistent flames no less than round OML 58 which is definitely accessible not like its offshore and deep water belongings are genuinely occasional security or non-routine flares, or whether or not some symbolize continued routine flaring underneath one other classification.
Community ready for the promised change
At Ogbogwu group, Ndenso Okwuikpo lives shut sufficient to a TotalEnergies facility to look at the flare from his residence.
He stated he has seen no significant discount within the depth of the flaring for the reason that firm introduced the top of routine flaring.
His bigger household, he stated, donated greater than 150 hectares of land to TotalEnergies in anticipation that oil operations would deliver employment and financial alternatives.
Instead, he stated, the group has been “rewarded” with air pollution. “Our farmland aren’t yielding well because of the heat in this area. That is the reward we get from the land we gave to them” he stated.
Mr Okwuikpo stated he had developed severe issues along with his sight over the previous 4 years and spends cash on medicine that he would in any other case have used to assist his household.
He stated residents had anticipated the corporate’s 2023 announcement to deliver reduction.
“We heard since 2023 that they will stop flaring. We were very happy. But since we heard that, nothing has happened. The gas burns day and night and it has never stopped even for an hour.”
His account, nonetheless, shouldn’t be backed by proof that his eye situation is attributable to the flaring in the neighborhood. Nevertheless, his expertise factors to a priority expressed by residents concerning the results of dwelling beside oil-production infrastructure.
For one other resident, Hannah Igila, her concern is the warmth emitted from the flare which she stated burns day and evening. Ms Igila stated this causes sleep issue for households that shouldn’t have followers, particularly at evening.
At Obite, 84-year-old conventional chief in the neighborhood, Ebiere Ejah remembers a time earlier than TotalEnergies’ operations modified the panorama across the group.
He complained concerning the impact of the flare on agriculture.
Mr Ejah stated Obite was as soon as recognized for a wide range of cocoyam regionally known as Indian cocoyam. He stated the crop may not thrive due to the warmth across the group. “Even our cassava isn’t fruitful due to the heat from the gas flared day and night,” he stated.
He additionally complained about what he described as polluted rainwater and pores and skin irritation amongst residents.
At Obagi, the flame is a part of the terrain
At Obagi, residents stated the state of affairs is much more tough to reconcile with the corporate’s environmental claims.
Oil manufacturing within the discipline started many years in the past. Many residents stated they had been born right into a group the place the flare was already a part of the group surroundings.
Michael Kio, a excessive chief in the neighborhood and a household chief representing Obagi in Egi Clan, stated his Umuokporo household has 32 oil wells positioned on its land.
Yet, he stated, the household stays poor whereas dwelling beside oil infrastructure.
“All we get from TotalEnergies is the continuous destruction of our environment through the nonstop gas flare,” he stated.
“We heard news some years ago that this gas they burn will end, but we haven’t seen it end till date. They keep burning our lives,” Mr Kio added.
At the Obagi Primary Health Centre, the official in command of the ability, Osam Augustine, stated residents often arrive with complaints involving itchy eyes, pores and skin irritation and chest ache accompanied by cough.
“There is no month we don’t have complaints about itchy eyes, at least 20 in a month,” he stated.
He stated complaints of itchy our bodies had been extra frequent and that chest ache accompanied by cough was additionally frequent.
At the Obite Primary Health Centre, the officer in cost, Vatican Nwoke reported related complaints.
She stated she personally experiences itchy eyes accompanied by discharge and estimated that the ability receives about 15 circumstances of itchy eyes and 17 circumstances of itchy physique complaints every month.
Ms Nwoke stated chest ache was extra frequent, with no less than 20 circumstances month-to-month.
“These communities need proper epidemiological studies,” Ms Nwoke stated in substance, evaluating the complaints she sees with the experiences of colleagues working in communities the place gasoline shouldn’t be being flared.
The well being employees didn’t present medical proof establishing gasoline flaring as the reason for the complaints. Their testimony as an alternative paperwork the well being burden they are saying is repeatedly introduced on the services.
Yet, scientific proof provides credence to the considerations repeatedly raised by host communities.
A research printed by the National Library of Medicine recognized eye irritation and chest ache among the many most often reported well being situations in communities uncovered to gasoline flaring within the Niger Delta.
Another research printed within the West African Journal of Medicine discovered growing larger charges of chest ache, respiratory difficulties, pores and skin irritation and eye irritation amongst folks residing close to flare websites than these dwelling farther away.
Data reveals extra
Available regulatory and satellite tv for pc knowledge present one other piece of the image.
Data printed by NUPRC present that TotalEnergies, by its Nigerian working entities, flared 4,395.75 million MSCF of gasoline in 2024, inserting the corporate thirteenth amongst 46 firms reported within the dataset.
The identical NUPRC knowledge present that TotalEnergies utilised 418,231.37 million MSCF of gasoline in 2024, rating second among the many firms listed.
However, the figures doesn’t seize what occurred at particular person belongings.
An evaluation of information from the Nigerian Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency’s Gas Flare Tracker, which makes use of satellite tv for pc observations of flare exercise was in a position to seize gasoline flaring from TotalEnergies two belongings; OML 58 and 130 deepwaters asset.
NOSDRA knowledge signifies that OML 58 recorded 10.1 million MSCF of flaring in 2022. The determine rose to 10.6 million MSCF in 2023 earlier than falling to 7.9 million MSCF in 2024. In 2025, nonetheless, the estimated quantity returned to 10 million MSCF.
Flare volumes recorded round OML 130 remained beneath 6.2 million MSCF in 2022 and 2023, earlier than rising to 7.9 million MSCF in 2025.
The sample failed to point out a sustained disappearance of flare exercise after TotalEnergies’ December 2023 announcement.
TotalEnergies commitments versus Methane query
Beyond seen flames, there are considerations round TotalEnergies methane disclosures.
Methane is the first element of pure gasoline and a extremely potent greenhouse gasoline.
TotalEnergies has set international targets to cut back methane emissions from its operated belongings by 80 % by 2030 in contrast with 2020 ranges.
In its 2026 Sustainability Climate progress report, the corporate says it achieved a 65 per cent discount globally in 2025 and is focusing on a 70 per cent discount by 2026.
However, these figures are international operated-asset figures and don’t reveal the extent of methane emissions from TotalEnergies’ Nigerian operations to assist the nation measure its personal milestones in local weather commitments.
Yet, TotalEnergies has invested in know-how designed to detect and quantify methane. The firm stated it deployed its AUSEA drone know-how in Nigeria in 2022.
In December 2023, TotalEnergies and NNPC signed a cooperation settlement to make use of AUSEA know-how for methane detection and measurement on Nigerian oil and gasoline services.
In its 2026 progress report, the corporate reported one key methane discount from its Nigerian operations noting {that a} supply of venting recognized in Nigeria was flamable cowl gasoline utilized in storage tanks. It stated in December 2024, the corporate changed the flamable cowl gasoline with inert nitrogen.
According to TotalEnergies, the intervention diminished emissions from 5.2 kilotonnes of methane per 12 months to 0.35 kilotonnes. That represents a discount of 4.85 million kilogrammes of methane yearly.
Although this can be a substantial discount from that individual supply, it isn’t a measure of TotalEnergies’ whole methane emissions in Nigeria.
A facility can cease routine flaring and nonetheless launch methane by tools leaks, venting, incomplete combustion or different sources therefore methane measurement and disclosure stay mandatory even the place an operator reviews zero routine flaring.
TotalEnergies Nigerian methane knowledge not publicly accessible
The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative’s (NEITI) 2022-2023 oil and gasoline audit discovered that solely 15 of 62 firms coated by the audit submitted greenhouse gasoline emissions knowledge whereas 47 didn’t.
While main multinational oil firms in Nigeria like Shell, Mobil, and Chevron submitted, TotalEnergies’ two Nigerian upstream entities; TotalEnergies EP Nigeria Limited and TotalEnergies Upstream Nigeria Limited weren’t among the many firms recognized as having equipped the required methane and different Greenhouse Gases (GHG) knowledge within the audit. Yet, TotalEnergies is international firm that publishes in depth international local weather knowledge and has publicly dedicated itself to methane measurement and discount.
NEITI really helpful strict enforcement, together with penalties for non-compliance, incentives for correct and well timed submissions and third-party verification of emissions knowledge. The audit additionally known as for engagement by NUPRC, the Federal Ministry of Environment and NEITI to assist firms perceive and adjust to GHG reporting necessities.
But the regulatory framework has since develop into extra demanding because the 2023 Gas Flaring, Venting and Methane Emissions Regulations established measurement and reporting obligations for upstream operators.
In April 2026, NUPRC issued one other directive requiring operators to undertake standardised templates for GHG emissions administration plans and methane and GHG emissions accounting.
The regulator stated operators should use, at minimal, IPCC Tier 2 methodologies from the third quarter of 2026 and transition to measurement-based Tier 3 programs by January 2027.
Disclosure should match technological functionality
The Nigeria Country Director of the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI), Tengi George-Ikoli stated TotalEnergies’ reported progress needs to be welcomed, however argued that company commitments and technological functionality should be matched by clear, asset-level disclosure.
“NRGI welcomes TotalEnergies’ reported elimination of routine gas flaring from its operated Nigerian assets and its deployment of AUSEA technology to detect and quantify methane emissions,” she stated.
“But corporate commitments and technological capability must be matched by transparent, asset-level disclosure.”
Ms George-Ikoli burdened that ending routine flaring shouldn’t be confused with eliminating methane emissions.
Methane, she stated, can nonetheless escape by fugitive leaks, venting, tools failures and incomplete combustion.
“Therefore, a zero-routine-flaring claim does not remove the need to measure, report and independently verify methane emissions,” she stated.
Ms George-Ikoli stated TotalEnergies may display management by publishing its Nigeria-specific emissions outcomes and clarifying what data it had submitted to the related authorities thus permitting for impartial evaluation of TotalEnergies’ progress.
“Voluntary corporate disclosure should complement, not replace, strong regulatory reporting and public accountability,” she stated.
The organisation known as on TotalEnergies, like different operators in Nigeria, to publish methane emissions knowledge for its Nigerian belongings, together with absolute emissions, methane depth, emission sources, services surveyed, methodologies used and corrective actions taken.
Operator, regulator that has not answered
PREMIUM TIMES sought solutions from TotalEnergies.
On 22 July, the newspaper despatched the corporate in Nigeria and its headquarters in France an in depth enquiry asking it to determine the precise date routine flaring ceased at OML 58; clarify the flare exercise noticed throughout the newspaper’s go to to native communities in Nigeria; state whether or not the corporate had investigated residents’ claims; and make clear whether or not the noticed flaring was categorized as routine, non-routine, emergency or safety-related.
The newspaper additionally requested OML 58 flare volumes from 2021 by 2025 and for January to June 2026.
Earlier on 16 June, PREMIUM TIMES in a media enquiry requested for methane emissions knowledge, together with fugitive emissions, venting and combustion-related methane, in addition to copies of fugitive methane emissions reviews submitted to NUPRC.
The newspaper requested the corporate whether or not it had submitted methane knowledge to NEITI and, if not, why.
It additionally requested its Flare Elimination and Monetisation Plan, particulars of investments made to eradicate routine flaring, any regulatory sanctions or compliance notices, and knowledge on third-party verification of its emissions knowledge.
No response was acquired and a reminder was despatched on 26 August and one other on 21 September but the corporate nonetheless didn’t reply.
PREMIUM TIMES additionally approached NUPRC by the Commission Chief Executive, Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, and Head of Media and Strategic Communication, Eniola Akinkuotu on 21 June and once more on 21 September to determine whether or not the regulator had independently assessed TotalEnergies’ declaration that routine flaring had led to Nigeria.
The regulator was particularly requested whether or not its evaluation supported the corporate’s claim in gentle of the persistent flare exercise noticed round OML 58. NUPRC was additionally requested what motion it had taken over TotalEnergies’ failure to report methane emissions within the NEITI audit. The regulator didn’t reply to the enquiry.
NUPRC’s silence shouldn’t be an remoted prevalence.
In a PREMIUM TIMES investigation printed in September, Oil firms violate Nigerian legal guidelines, flare gasoline, face no sanctions, this newspaper additionally sought solutions from NUPRC on regulatory enforcement. The regulator didn’t reply to questions. The sample can be evident in PREMIUM TIMES’ July investigation, Gas flares, poisoned lives, regulatory failures in Nigeria’s oil fields, which sought data from NUPRC on operator compliance and regulatory enforcement. NUPRC didn’t reply to the enquiries.
The regulator’s repeated refusal to supply a response raises an accountability query.
For a regulator answerable for imposing guidelines on flaring, venting and methane emissions, the general public must know whether or not investigations are being performed, what they’ve discovered and what motion follows when operators fail to adjust to commitments and guidelines.
Without that data, it turns into tough for communities and the general public to evaluate whether or not public declarations and guidelines are being enforced.
What the silence leaves unanswered
The silence leaves a tougher downside.
Visible flare exercise stays round OML 58 after the corporate declared that routine flaring had ended throughout its Nigerian operations.
Satellite knowledge point out that flare exercise in OML 58 and 130 didn’t disappear or cut back considerably after the announcement.
Residents say the flames stay a part of on a regular basis life, whereas well being employees report recurring complaints from folks dwelling near the services. NUPRC’s company-level knowledge present that TotalEnergies continued to report substantial gasoline volumes flared in 2024, however the knowledge don’t disclose enough asset-level data to find out what quantity got here from OML 58, its different 4 operated belongings or how particular person flare occasions had been categorized.
And TotalEnergies has not offered PREMIUM TIMES with the operational and emissions information that might resolve the discrepancy, leaving a essential query unanswered: If routine flaring has ended, what precisely are communities seeing day and evening and who has independently verified the state of affairs?
Without verifiable information and solutions from the operator and regulator, the general public is left with two competing realities: a company declaration of zero routine flaring and a bodily panorama during which flames stay seen all day and evening.
READ ALSO: Nigeria among top nine world’s gas-flaring countries in 2025 — World Bank
Claims must be interrogated – Experts
The Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation and Environmental Activist, Nnimmo Bassey, stated the obvious contradiction is proof that public claims by oil firms and authorities companies should be examined towards situations on the bottom.
“When TotalEnergies say that they have stopped routine flaring yet flaring is taking place around their facilities in the community it is simply a cover up,” Mr Bassey stated.
He stated the federal government and oil firms ought to display environmental commitments by measurable motion relatively than declarations.
Head of Energy, Extractives and Climate Justice Programme at Policy Alert, Edidiong Dickson, stated the case factors to weaknesses in emissions reporting that should be addressed.
Mr Dickson stated discipline observations from oil-producing communities counsel that emissions claims by some operators might not all the time be readily reconciled with situations on the bottom.
He known as for improved monitoring by NUPRC and involvement of communities in emissions data.
According to him, claims by operators should be interrogated by the regulator, significantly the place out there proof from communities and different monitoring programs raises questions.
This Investigation is supported by We The People
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