Routine flaring
The gas is first separated from the liquids and solids downstream of the wellhead, then released into a flare stack and combusted into Earth's atmosphere (usually in an open diffusion flame).
[3] The majority of this was routinely flared APG at thousands of well sites, and is a waste amount equal to the natural gas usage of South and Central America.
The wasting of a primary resource provides no present economic or future wealth benefits, while creating liabilities through the build up of greenhouse gases and other harmful pollutants in the biosphere.
[12] Flare Gas Recovery Systems (FGRS) for processing APG into liquid or compressed fuels at the wellpad have also become increasingly mobile and varied in their capabilities.
[19] The buildup of these gases is substantially disrupting the planetary carbon cycle, and broader international efforts are ongoing to assess the extent of the damage and quantify the accumulating economic costs.
[18] While flaring is wasteful and produces harmful byproducts like other burning of fossil fuels, it is less disruptive in the near term than venting the associated gas which consists primarily of methane.
[22] These sources are also in need of more extensive tracking and mitigation efforts since natural gas is projected to continue to be the most rapidly growing supply of global primary energy.
The velocity and pressure drop of the gas as it exits the tip of the flare stack must be maintained within optimal ranges to ensure adequate turbulent diffusion.
As a practical matter, gas streams with higher sulfur contamination levels are more likely to be flared - where allowed - than utilized due to their lower economic value.
Following formation of the GGFR in 2002, participating researchers from NOAA and academic institutions harnessed satellite observations to simplify the data collection and improve measurement accuracy.
[43][44] Maps of global activity are now automatically generated with advanced methods such as machine learning, and the inferred volumes adjusted for disturbances such as intermittent cloud cover.
Additional satellites and instruments have, and are scheduled to continue to come online with capability to measure methane and other more powerful greenhouse gases with improving resolution.
[47][48][49] The CLAIRE satellite launched in year 2016 by the Canadian firm GHGSat can resolve carbon dioxide and methane to as little as 50 metres (160 ft), thus enabling its customers to pinpoint the source of emissions.
[40] Portable instruments from suppliers like FLIR Systems[50] and Picarro[51] are also capable of detecting otherwise invisible leaks and emissions from improperly operating flares.
They are somewhat less practical for monitoring methane and other VOC concentrations over extended periods, but can enable industry repair technicians, regulatory officials, and other investigators to locate and document sources of emissions in real time.
[52] Researchers for the Environmental Defense Fund have extensively mapped methane emissions from oil and gas operations in the U.S. Permian Basin spanning years 2019–2020.
[55] The United Nations,[9] International Energy Agency,[56] and World Bank recognize routine flaring reduction efforts as low-hanging fruit in consideration of the substantial economic, environmental, and human-health benefits.
Some of the key countries targeted for reductions have included Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nigeria, Qatar, and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra region of Russia.
Reported flaring and venting in the U.S. declined in the decades following World War II, based on data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Reports of negative producer prices for natural gas, and of a further doubling of activity in the Permian, drove continued growth in this destructive practice in 2019 in the United States.
