## 1 Introduction  
The increasing energy demand has impacted the production, processing, and use of fossil fuels, and in particular, oil and gas resources. Both offshore and onshore fossil fuel sources facilitate the flaring and venting of natural gas with resulting negative environmental, social, and economic repercussions on the sustainability of natural resources. Despite its negative environmental impacts, gas flaring as a method for eliminating undesirable natural gases from crude oil is attractive due to its low cost. Flaring (the burning of associated gas during oil production and refining [1]) or venting (the regulated release of gases into the atmosphere during oil and gas operations) are common practices in oil and gas production to maintain safety [2]. Since venting contributes considerably to greenhouse gas emissions and reinjection is limited to the field conditions, flaring is favoured as a less hazardous practice that ensures reliable operation and is often considered an unavoidable process [3]. Gas flaring emits mainly carbon dioxide with typically 98% of the gas being burned, while venting emits methane [4; 5]. Methane is the main emission from venting, and its global warming potential is 21 times that of carbon dioxide and thus is always likely to be worse than flaring, and there are increasing discussions about policy reforms to reduce these emissions [6; 7; 8]. Unfortunately, with the rising need for fossil fuels, the benefits of natural gas (associated and non-associated) serve as a major attraction for its use [9; 10]. Natural gas has gained popularity as low-CO\({}_{2}\) fuels have expanded in use [11]. The IEA [12] claimed that natural gas alone contributed 45% of global energy demand growth in 2018. When compared to oil, natural gas emits 20% less CO\({}_{2}\). Gas combustion accounted for 21% of energy sector emissions, but oil accounted for 35% of CO\({}_{2}\) emissions. The combustion of natural gas generates less than 1% of sulphur dioxide compared to oil and less than half of the nitrogen oxide (a major component of smog) compared to oil, with natural gas accounting for less than 10% of global nitrogen oxide emissions. In addition, particulate emissions are low compared to oil. The increasing growth of the global gas industry suggests that natural gas should contribute significantly to the energy mix [13]. Natural gas, which was formerly viewed as a by-product of oil production, now provides one-fifth of the world's essential energy [10]. Despite efforts to curb gas flaring, it remains an issue, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria (the country of interest for this paper) with substantial oil and gas production. Nigeria ranked seventh among the top thirty flaring countries in 2021, with a volume of 6.6 billion cubic metres (bcm), contributing more than 40% of Africa's overall annual flare volume. Nigeria is Africa's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, with 123 flaring sites in the Niger Delta. According to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) [14], Nigeria's economy lost N233 billion (USD 761.6 million) to gas flaring in 2018, accounting for 3.8% of total worldwide losses. This is because the oil and gas sector accounts for around 10% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and petroleum export revenues account for more than 86% of Nigeria's overall export revenue [15]. According to the National Environmental Economic Development Study (NEEDS) for climate change in Nigeria, gas flaring costs N28.8 billion (USD 94 million) annually [14]. Nigeria's flared gas fraction fell from 51% in 2001 to 10% in 2018, with 7.4 billion cubic feet (bcf) (\(\sim\)0.21 bcm) flared, placing Nigeria in the top ten gas flaring countries [16]. Approximately 2.5 bcf is flared at various places across the country [17]. This accounts for around a quarter of Africa's electricity usage [17]. Flaring levels in Nigeria are evidently unacceptably high, considering the environmental issues, health risks, and economic losses.