Nigeria has taken another step to curb routine gas flaring by awarding permits to 28 companies to recover and use gas that is currently burned off during oil production, as Africa’s largest crude producer looks to cut emissions and unlock new investment, Bloomberg reported.

The approvals follow a competitive process that drew forty two bids covering forty nine flare locations across the Niger Delta. The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission said fourteen applicants remain under review after failing to meet all regulatory and technical conditions required to proceed.

Gbenga Komolafe, who heads the upstream regulator, said the selected projects are expected to bring between 250 million and 300 million standard cubic feet of gas into commercial use. Addressing an event in Abuja on Friday, he said the initiative could mobilise up to two billion US dollars in capital and generate more than one hundred thousand jobs across the value chain.

Regulators estimate that redirecting flared gas into productive uses would reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by about six million tonnes and support nearly three gigawatts of potential power generation. The programme is a key plank of Nigeria’s plan to reach net zero emissions by 2060.

Despite holding gas reserves that surpass its oil endowment, Nigeria has historically flared a portion of its associated gas because it was considered uneconomic to process. Through the gas flare commercialisation scheme, the government is offering incentives designed to make gas recovery and utilisation viable for private operators.