The Hindu Business Line : India among 16 nations that logged reduction in gas flaring: Study

New Delhi, Aug 31 India is among the 16 countries that logged decreased gas flaring from 1995 to 2006, reflecting such gas flaring reduction a significant contribution to energy security, climate change mitigation and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

The first globally consistent survey of gas flaring for 60 countries around the world, which was commissioned and funded by the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership (GGFR) and undertaken by scientists at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), shows that global gas flaring has remained largely stable over the 12-year span in the range of 150 to 170 billion cubic metres (BCM). While those who reduced flaring include Algeria, Argentina, Chile, Egypt, Indonesia, Nigeria, UAE and US (offshore) besides India, those that increased include 22 countries and notable among them are China, Iraq, Myanmar, Philippines, Qatar, Sudan, Thailand and Yemen.

Gas flaring — a by-product of petroleum production that spews about 400 million tonnes of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere — has been going on for decades. The first satellite imagery reveals that some countries are burning off more gas than what was initially reported.

The imagery has reshuffled who are the top 20 gas-flaring nations, compared to previous official figures from 2004. Russia has moved to the top slot, replacing Nigeria and new on the list, based on what satellite sensors detect on their 14 daily globe-girdling journeys, are China, Egypt, Malaysia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan.

In 2006, the global gas flaring estimate of 168 BCM denotes 27 per cent of the natural gas consumption of the US with a potential market value of $40 billion. Gas flaring depletes valuable resources and pollutes the planet and hence capture and use of the flared gas is an obvious option in efforts to reduce global carbon emissions. It is also a low-hanging fruit relative to other carbon emission reductions, the Bank said.

Flaring or burning of gas is widely used to dispose of natural gas liberated during oil production and processing when this supervenes in far-flung areas, away from potential users, where there is often no infrastructure on site to make use of the gas.

In recent years, however, renewed efforts are being made to eliminate flaring, such as re-injecting it into the ground to boost oil production, converting it into liquefied natural gas for shipment, transporting it to markets via pipelines or using it on site for generation of electricity.

In 2002, the World Bank and the Government of Norway began the GGFR initiative which now has a dozen nations as partners and 10 industrial partners including the world’s largest petroleum companies such as BP, Chevron, ENI, ExxonMobil, Marathon Oil, Hydro, Shell, Statoil, TOTAL, OPEC Secretariat and the World Bank.

The Manager of the Bank’s GGFR partnership, Mr Bent Swenson, said: “In Africa alone about 40 BCM of gas are burned every year, which if put to use could generate half of the electricity needed in that continent”.

The GGFR partnership has grown to 14 oil-producing countries — including Nigeria but not Russia — that are responsible for about 70 per cent of flaring worldwide. Gabon would officially become the new GGFR partner in the coming weeks. GGFR has undertaken gas-flaring reduction projects in 8 countries and projects under way would potentially eliminate some 32 million tonnes of greenhouse gas by 2012, according to the World Bank.

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