Natural Gas Flaring: Critics and Industry Square Off over Emissions

The royalty-free flaring of natural gas from wells on public and tribal lands amounts to a hidden federal subsidy worth tens of millions of dollars, according to a new study by the environmental group Friends of the Earth that focused on the industry in North Dakota.

But one of the biggest producers of oil in the state, Continental Resources, Inc., challenged the findings, suggesting that the research overstated the volumes of hydrocarbons being burned at wells.  The study didn't account for a high percentage of inert materials in the flared gases, the company said.

The dispute underscores how difficult it is to determine how much natural gas is flared by oil and gas companies, and not just in North Dakota.  Well operators reported that 0.13 percent of natural gas produced nationwide is vented into the atmosphere or flared, according to a 2010 report by the Government Accountability Office.  The GAO noted, however, that estimates from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Western Regional Air Partnership showed volumes as much as "30 times higher" than those reported by industry.

The widespread flaring of natural gas from oil production is clearly an important source of carbon dioxide, the most pervasive greenhouse gas.  A snapshot of data reviewed by InsideClimate News showed that gas flared at two North Dakota wells this year contained a significant percentage of methane and other hydrocarbons, contrary to the assertions of company officials.

"Drillers are allowed to destroy resources and not pay royalties on them," said Lukas Ross of Friends of the Earth, which produced the peer-reviewed North Dakota report.  "For over 100 years we've had this regime in place where public wealth is transferred to the oil and gas industry at the expense of taxpayers and at the expense of the environment."

Over a six-year period, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management subsidized the burning of $524 million of natural gas by oil and gas companies operating on public and tribal lands in North Dakota, according to the Friends of the Earth’s study published last Wednesday.  Federal regulations allow oil companies to flare gas without paying royalties if it is the only way they can economically extract oil from a well, Ross said.

Read more at Natural Gas Flaring:  Critics and Industry Square Off over Emissions