The world's best thinkers on energy and climate
Last year, oil and gas companies in North Dakota flared over $220 million worth of natural gas. That’s enough to heat over 1 million homes and meet North Dakotans’ heating needs seven times over.* It was also enough to convince the North Dakota Petroleum Council (NDPC), an industry coalition, to reconvene its flaring task force. … [Read more...]
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, with data from the North Dakota Industrial CommissionIncreases in North Dakota's crude oil production have resulted in increased associated natural gas production from oil reservoirs, especially in the Bakken region. Because of insufficient infrastructure to collect, gather, and transport this natural gas, about one-fifth of North Dakota's natural gas production is flared rather than marketed. North … [Read more...]
Methane emissions from oil and gas production have become a serious issue for regulators concerned about greenhouse gasses, as well as for oil and gas producers who see lots of money going up in flames as gas flares and vents. But technology innovators are finding ways to capture the wasted natural gas and profitably use it to fuel their operations.In July 2014 regulators in North Dakota adopted tough new rules to reduce the amount of natural gas … [Read more...]
High rates of natural gas flaring in the Bakken shale formation are symptomatic of infrastructure limitations that prevent this gas from reaching a market.Although various technical options could reduce flaring from high-output well sites, none matches the benefits of developing large-scale outlets for the gas.The Wall St. Journal recently reported on the high rate at which excess natural gas from wells in North Dakota's Bakken shale formation is … [Read more...]
NRDC experts have blogged about the very harmful climate impacts of flaring. it is also an enormous waste of energy--when instead our country should be saving energy--and a financial loss to mineral owners.But flaring is also turning communities into hell with painful noise, black smoke, breathing complaints, and flares that light up the night sky. Here is a dramatic video from Ohio where you can see what families must live with in … [Read more...]
A pair of articles in the NY Time focuses on one of the more perverse aspects of our current energy/climate amalgam of ugliness: flaring natural gas. The thumbnail description: When oil is extracted from wells, it’s often accompanied by natural gas. There’s no economical way to store and use that natural gas, so it’s burned (“flared”) right at the site. You often see photos of offshore oil rigs with a flame constantly burning at their top. … [Read more...]
The Government Accountability Office has weighed in with its own report on methane leaks. Big Gas had a field day minimizing the importance of the report. It must have seemed so easy. In the process they inadvertently confirmed enough details to finish off the “green” reputation of natural gas. The trap they fell into may even have been laid out for them by GAO. All reports I’ve seen do not cover it this way. I … [Read more...]
Recent Comments