Tomas de Oliveira Bredariol, an energy analyst at the IEA, discusses trends and regional drivers of natural gas flaring in the United States.
Assertion Supported
Bredariol: IEA estimates global flare combustion efficiency at 92%, not industry-claimed 98%
“We at the International Energy Agency estimate that the combustion efficiency of flares globally is at around 92%. That's a much lower number than what you might hear from the industry. They will often refer to 98%, but it's in line with several scientific stu…”
Assertion Supported
Bredariol: Most global flaring sites are within 20 kilometers of existing pipelines
“When we look at, you know, the 8000 or more flaring sites across the world. And we take into account existing pipelines, demand centers, and other characteristics. The majority of these sites could probably use a connection to a pipeline. Many of these are act…”
Insight
Bredariol: Rapid production decline disincentivizes gas pipelines at unconventional oil wells
“Unconventional Oil wells, they produce relatively small volumes of associated natural gas, and they produce it for a relatively short amount of time. The volume decreases quite rapidly, as does with oil, right? And so they don't have, the operators don't have …”
Assertion Supported
Bredariol: 2023 global gas flaring exceeded Norway's total annual natural gas production
“So we have about a hundred and fifty billion cubic meters of natural gas being flared last year. These are the latest data from the World Bank. And if you want a comparison point, Norway's natural gas production was about a 120 billion cubic meters. So we flar…”
Assertion Partly supported
Bredariol: Global flaring emissions exceed all international flights combined
“Considering a global warming potential for methane of 30, that's in a hundred years timeframe, that would be over five hundred million tons of CO₂ equivalent. That's more than all international flights last year. And it's just a bit below all the CO₂ emissions…”
Assertion Supported
Bredariol: Nine countries account for 75% of global gas flaring
“For over decades, Gas flaring around the world is concentrated in nine countries. That's Russia, Iran, Iraq, the United States, Venezuela, Algeria, Libya, Nigeria, and Mexico. If we look at data for last year, these top nine countries were responsible for abou…”