Energy to burn

Fossil fuel too cheap to sell - Gas Flaring

Top 5 gas flaring countries, 2010

Flaring Increases in the US Due to Low Natural Gas Prices

By Saltanat Berdikeeva | Wed, 24 October 2012

North Dakota’s oil production from its Bakken Shale formation continues to grow, reaching 660 thousand barrels per day (bbl/d) in June 2012. With a back-to-back 5 percent rise in oil output every month, North Dakota does not expect the pace of production to slow down.
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The Bakken Shale formation has a substantial amount of associated gas, which is a raw natural gas released as a result of petroleum production. Natural gas is often found in oil wells, where it is either dissolved in crude oil or exists separately in a form of a cap above oil.
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The United States now ranks as one of the world’s top five flaring countries, according to the World Bank’s recent report. That is largely due to the rise in oil drilling in North Dakota. In 2011, the United States represented 5 percent of all gas flaring.

Presently, most companies burn off associated gas rather than invest in pipelines and processing plants to capture and sell the gas because of added costs. ...

Nigeria Gas Flaring

Since Nigeria's oil fields lack the infrastructure to produce and market associated natural gas, much of it is flared. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Nigeria flared 536 Bcf of natural gas in 2010 – or about a third of gross natural gas produced in 2010, according to NNPC. In 2011, the NNPC claimed that flaring cost Nigeria US $2.5 billion per year in lost revenue.

Nigeria burns off $5 billion resources yearly from gas flaring

NIGERIA: Gas flares still a burning issue in the Niger Delta

DAKAR/PORT HARCOURT, 8 March 2012 (IRIN) - Despite longstanding laws against gas flaring - the burning of natural gas during oil extraction - in Nigeria, and shifting deadlines to end the practice, the activity continues, with serious health consequences for people living nearby.

In the Niger Delta, where most of the flaring takes places, residents living near gas flares complain of respiratory problems, skin rashes and eye irritations, as well as damage to agriculture due to acid rain.
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While Shell’s report also says overall from 2002 to 2010 “flaring from SPDC facilities has fallen by over 50 percent,” it says this was partially due to a decrease in oil extraction owing to militant activities. In the same manner, it recognized that the 2010 increase in flaring from 2009 was because oil extraction rose following a drop in violence in the region. ...

Oil firms shun gas flare penalty payment for 2012

Soni Daniel | 07 November 2012, Sweetcrude, ABUJA

NONE of the oil companies operating in Nigeria has paid any penalty to the coffers of the Nigerian government for gas flaring since the beginning of this year. ...