BAKU, Azerbaijan, Sept.29
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Oil producers could gain around $82 billion if they replace gas flaring with utilization, Trend reports with reference to GlobalData, the leading data and analytics company.
The company notes that besides lost revenue, this is also an environmental issue, as gas flaring is one of the major contributors to CO2 emissions.
Amid the record-high gas prices, oil and gas operators could benefit much from selling this gas, as aside from money, this can also help them reach CO2 targets, according to Anna Belova, Senior Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData.
The company estimates that some of the biggest gas flarers, accounting for over 87 percent of all flared gas in 2020, were Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, the US and Venezuela. “The top 12 gas-flaring countries flared almost 13 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd). To put that into context, that amount of gas could easily keep the whole of Japan well supplied for a year. All of that power has simply gone to waste.”
Belova notes that reducing global gas flaring will require a multi-prong approach due to unique regional drivers that prioritize flaring over monetization of gas.
“Small-scale modular technologies, aimed at converting gas into liquids or chemicals, represent a logical choice for remote and distributed flaring sites. Alternatively, multiple sites by different operators can be combined with large-scale midstream and downstream components - provided enough flaring density. This approach was pioneered by Saudi Aramco and has now been applied in Texas, with LNG-based monetization of gas, and Russia, with natural gas used as feedstock for petrochemicals.”
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