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New Energy World
New Energy World embraces the whole energy industry as it connects and converges to address the decarbonisation challenge. It covers progress being made across the industry, from the dynamics under way to reduce emissions in oil and gas, through improvements to the efficiency of energy conversion and use, to cutting-edge initiatives in renewable and low carbon technologies.
Lowest level of global gas flaring since 2010
5/4/2023
Progress in reducing gas flaring resumed in 2022, with gas flared worldwide falling by 5bn m3 – the equivalent of taking three million cars off the road – according to new data from the World Bank.
Global gas flaring fell by 5bn m3 to 139bn m3 last year, its lowest level since 2010, according to new satellite data compiled by the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR).
‘After a decade of stalled progress, global gas flaring volumes fell in 2022 by around 3%, which is a welcome drop, especially during a time of concern about energy security for many countries. We continue to encourage all oil producers to seize opportunities to end this polluting and wasteful practice,’ says Guangzhe Chen, World Bank Vice President for Infrastructure.
Three countries – Nigeria, Mexico and the US – accounted for most of the decline in global gas flaring in 2022. Two other countries, Kazakhstan and Colombia, stand out for consistently reducing flaring volumes in the last seven years.
In addition to the overall reduction in flare volume, global flaring intensity – the amount of flaring per barrel of oil produced – also fell to its lowest level since satellite data began, due to the 5% increase in oil production in 2022, according to the study. This indicates a gradual and sustained decoupling of oil production from flaring.
The data shows, however, that despite this progress, the top nine flaring countries continue to be responsible for the vast majority of flaring, with Russia, Iraq, Iran, Algeria, Venezuela, the US, Mexico, Libya and Nigeria accounting for nearly three-quarters of flare volumes and under half of global oil production.
The satellite data also shows that decreased Russian gas exports to the European Union (EU) did not increase gas flaring in Russia. Throughout 2022, the EU significantly increased its LNG imports from the US, Angola, Norway, Qatar and Egypt, and via pipeline from Azerbaijan and Norway. Of these countries, only the US, Angola and Egypt have made substantial progress in converting associated gas that would otherwise be flared into LNG exports.
The study estimates that in 2022, gas flaring released 357mn tonnes of CO2e, 315mn tonnes in the form of CO2 and 42mn tonnes in the form of methane. The report also considers the ‘state of the science’ and the uncertainty surrounding how much methane is released from flaring. It finds that methane emissions due to flaring could be significantly higher than previously estimated. For example, if the average flare is just five percentage points less efficient at combusting methane, then globally, the amount of methane released would be three times higher than currently estimated.
‘We’re concerned by the amount of methane emitted through flaring, particularly from flares that are not working properly. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 in the short term. So we need to understand this more and are ramping up our efforts to help developing countries tackle methane emissions,’ comments Zubin Bamji, the World Bank’s GGFR Program Manager.
