Daily Times

Global progress to reduce gas flaring, the wasteful industry practice of burning natural gas during oil production, has stalled over the last decade, according to the World Bank (WB). Globally, gas flaring resulted in nearly 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions in 2021, further underscoring the urgency to accelerate the decarbonization of the world’s economies, says a new report from the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partership (GGFR).

Satellite data compiled and analyzed for GGFR’s 2022 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report shows that 144 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas was flared at upstream oil and gas facilities last year. Ten oil-producing and flaring countries accounted for three-quarters of all gas flaring, seven of which — Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Venezuela, Algeria, and Nigeria — have remained the top seven consistently over the last ten years.

“Climate change is one of the defining development challenges of our time. Ending the polluting and wasteful practice of gas flaring and decarbonizing oil and gas production, while also accelerating the transition to cleaner energy, is fundamental to mitigating climate change,” said Demetrios Papathanasiou, Global Director for the Energy and Extractives Global Practice at the World Bank. Gas flaring results from market and economic constraints and a lack of appropriate regulation and political will. The practice releases pollutants into the atmosphere, and we estimate that the practice released 361 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, 39 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in the form of methane, and black carbon (soot), contributing significantly to global warming.

While 2021 showed disappointing progress amidst the global pandemic, some promising flaring reduction trends emerged in several countries. GGFR finds that the United States is the only one of the top 10 flaring countries to have successfully reduced flare volumes while increasing production over the last decade, decreasing its flaring intensity — the volume of gas flared per barrel of oil produced — by 46 percent.

In a companion report, Global Flaring and Venting Regulations, GGFR examines the flaring and venting policies of 21 countries, and highlights successful approaches to reducing emissions. The report finds that many countries have also demonstrated leadership in flare reduction.

Kazakhstan has achieved the largest overall flare reduction of all countries in the last 10 years, reducing absolute flaring from 4 bcm in 2012 to 1.5 bcm in 2021, thanks to strictly enforced regulations, coupled with a domestic gas market that incentivizes associated gas recovery.