The Strategist

BP to stop flaring natural gas at US biggest oil field



04/20/2021 - 03:51



BP intends to abandon gas flaring at its fields in the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company plans to completely stop flaring gas in oil production by 2025.



Tim Hurst via flickr
Tim Hurst via flickr
Gas flaring is a common practice among oil producers in the Permian Basin, as most producers there work for more profitable oil. 

By-product gas, on the other hand, needs additional infrastructure to be built to take it out and process it. The companies see this as an unnecessary cost and simply flare it off. In addition, flaring is sometimes used in emergency situations when operators need to depressurise pipes.

However, flaring leads to serious greenhouse gas emissions, so in recent years the practice has come under scrutiny from the authorities. 

The oil giant is now trying to position itself as a cleaner energy company and is willing to spend about $1.3 billion to build pipelines and other infrastructure to extract, store and transport natural gas in the Permian Basin.

source: worldoil.com