Global gas flaring rose to a six-year high in 2025, driven by increases in Russia and Iran, according to World Bank data. The data points to a central challenge for the World Bank-backed Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 initiative: global progress depends heavily on a small group of oil-producing countries where weak infrastructure, limited gas markets, financing constraints and uneven enforcement continue to slow investment in gas capture and processing.

Global Efforts to Reduce Flaring

The World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Tracker reported that flaring climbed for a third consecutive year to 167 billion cubic metres, wasting an estimated $54 billion worth of gas and outpacing growth in global oil production. Russia, Iran and Iraq together flared about 84 bcm in 2025, nearly half the global total, with Russia and Iran accounting for much of the year-on-year increase.

Nine countries — Russia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Mexico, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria and the U.S. — accounted for more than four-fifths of global flaring while producing nearly half of the world’s oil, the World Bank said. Africa remained another area of persistent flaring. Libya, Algeria and Nigeria together burned more than 25 bcm of gas in 2025, despite widespread power shortages and efforts by several governments to expand domestic gas use.

Eliminating routine flaring globally would require an estimated $70 billion to $100 billion, less than twice the annual value of gas now being wasted, the World Bank said. The technologies, policies, regulations, and financing mechanisms needed to capture and utilize associated gas are available, but what is missing, in too many places, is the leadership, prioritization, and governance needed to put these solutions into practice.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.