Libyan opportunities to bolster domestic energy, improve exports and reduce emissions by monetising flaring

Today Capterio publishes a opportunity-focussed thought leadership paper on the $2-3 billion per year opportunity that Libya has to capture its flared gas to create value, improve its economy and lower emissions. Capterio is looking forward to presenting many of these ideas at Libya’s flagship Energy and Economy conference this week in Tripoli.

A summary of the paper is low, and the full version is available here.

Libya’s gas flaring rose to a recent record high of over 7 BCM in 2025 – 7 times the volume exported via the Greenstream pipeline to Italy. At a time when Europe is actively seeking secure gas supplies and represents a premium market, this scale of waste is economically and strategically untenable. Recovered gas could either be exported or redeployed domestically to stabilise unreliable, economy-constraining power generation or to support higher-value uses such as fertiliser production. While monetising flared gas is already a national priority, accelerating its delivery will therefore unlock substantial economic value, strengthen regional energy security, and deliver immediate environmental benefits through sharp reductions in methane and CO₂ emissions. Achieving this prize will be complex and capital-intensive, but it will also require strong pan-industry coordination, innovative thinking on policy and gas pricing, coupled with decisive leadership and effective top-down oversight.

• Libya’s oil exports reached 1.4 million barrels per day in 2025, the highest level since 2012, supported by improved stability and field rehabilitation
  
• However, gas exports reached a 22-year low at 1 BCM in 2025, driven by operational challenges, unreliable infrastructure and soaring domestic demand of some 12 BCM[1].  Faster renewables deployment could free up gas for export
  
• Meanwhile, gas flaring in 2025 reached its highest figure in well over a decade at 7.3 BCM, with another 2 BCM likely released as uncombusted methane. National revenues could be improved by $2-3[2] billion per year if flares, vents and leaks were captured and the gas was exported to Europe
  
• Progress on the government’s ambitions to eliminate gas flaring by 2030 is a national priority that will bring gas to domestic markets (for power or petrochemicals) or for export.  Many multinational companies with similar zero-flaring commitments hold non-operated positions in high-flaring assets
  
• A range of significant flare capture projects have been delivered in recent years (reducing some field flaring by 1 BCM).  Opportunities linked to better use of the Coastal Pipeline system and or current fertiliser plants could be gamechangers
  
• Capterio’s gas-flaring intelligence platform, FlareIntel, quantifies every flare from its heat signature observed by satellite. In regions where flaring is rarely metered, it provides uniquely timely, independent, and objective data, often revealing volumes that are significantly under-reported (if reported at all)
  
• Capterio collaborates with companies and governments to turn credible, independent flare data into real-world action. We support the identification and screening of operational improvements and investment opportunities that capture flared gas, strengthen energy security, create economic value, and deliver immediate emissions reductions.