Progress in reducing gas flaring resumed in 2022, with gas flared worldwide falling by five billion cubic meters (bcm) to 139 bcm, its lowest level since 2010, according to new satellite data compiled by the World Bank’s global development finance agency. Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR).
The reduction by 2022 is equivalent to taking three million cars off the road, according to the association.
“After a decade of stalled progress, global gas-flaring volumes fell by around 3% in 2022, which is a welcome drop, especially at a time of energy security concerns for many countries. We continue to encourage all oil producers to seize opportunities to end this polluting and wasteful practice,” says the World Bank’s Vice President for Infrastructure Guangzhe Chen.
Nigeria, Mexico, and the US accounted for most of the decline in global gas twist in 2022. In addition, Kazakhstan and Colombia stand out as having consistently reduced twist volumes over the past seven years.
In addition to the overall reduction in twist volume, the overall twist intensity, which is the amount of twist per barrel of oil produced, also fell to its lowest level since satellite data began in due to the 5% increase in oil production by 2022.
This indicates a gradual and sustained decoupling of oil production from toast, according to the GGFR.
However, despite this progress, the top nine countries are still responsible for the vast majority of the flames, with Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, the US and Venezuela accounting for almost three quarters of the volumes. and less than half of the world’s oil production.
The satellite data show that the decline in Russian gas exports to the European Union (EU) did not increase the gas twist in Russia. Throughout 2022, the EU significantly increased imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Angola, Egypt, Norway, the US and Qatar, and via pipelines from Azerbaijan and Norway.
Of those countries, only Angola, Egypt and the United States have made substantial progress in converting associated gas that would otherwise be converted into LNG exports, the world body said.
GGFR estimates that, in 2022, gas fracking released 357 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, 315 million tonnes in the form of carbon dioxide and 42 million tonnes in the form of methane.
In addition, the report also considers the state of the science and uncertainty about how much methane is released from fracking. It finds that methane emissions from roasting could be significantly higher than previously estimated.
For example, if the average flare is five percentage points less efficient at burning methane, then overall the amount of methane released would be three times greater than currently estimated, the report highlights.
“We are concerned about the amount of methane emitted through flaring, especially from flares that are not working properly. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term. So we have to understand it more and we are increasing our efforts to help developing countries deal with methane emissions,” says GGFR program director Zubin Bamji.
