Nigeria, U.S., Russia, Iraq, Six Others Account For Three-Quarters Of Gas Flaring — World Bank

A new report from the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) has said Nigeria and nine other countries account for three-quarters of gas flaring.

The report released in Washington on Thursday lists the top seven countries in gas flaring as Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Venezuela, Algeria, and Nigeria.

These seven countries have remained the top seven consistently over the last ten years.

Also on the top ten are Kazakhstan and Colombia.

The report shows that global progress to reduce the wasteful industry practice of burning natural gas during oil production has stalled over the last decade and gas flaring resulted in nearly 400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions in 2021.

The report said satellite data compiled and analysed for GGFR’s 2022 Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report shows that 144 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas was flared at upstream oil and gas facilities last year.

The Global Director for the Energy and Extractives Global Practice at the World Bank, Demetrios Papathanasiou, said:

“Climate change is one of the defining development challenges of our time. Ending the polluting and wasteful practice of gas flaring and decarbonising oil and gas production, while also accelerating the transition to cleaner energy, is fundamental to mitigating climate change.”

A statement announcing the release of the report said: “Gas flaring results from market and economic constraints and a lack of appropriate regulation and political will. The practice releases pollutants into the atmosphere, and we estimate that the practice released 361 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, 39 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions in the form of methane, and black carbon (soot), contributing significantly to global warming.

“While 2021 showed disappointing progress amidst the global pandemic, some promising flaring reduction trends emerged in several countries. GGFR finds that the United States is the only one of the top 10 flaring countries to have successfully reduced flare volumes while increasing production over the last decade, decreasing its flaring intensity — the volume of gas flared per barrel of oil produced — by 46 percent. In a companion report, Global Flaring and Venting Regulations, GGFR examines the flaring and venting policies of 21 countries, and highlights successful approaches to reducing emissions. The report finds that many countries have also demonstrated leadership in flare reduction.”

The GGFR’s Programme Manager at the World Bank, Zubin Bamji, said policies to reduce gas flaring and venting have not proven effective.

“Our new regulatory review and analysis will help governments create the right policies for their specific circumstances so routine flaring and venting can come to an end by 2030, which is our collective goal,” Bamji said.

The GGFR is a partnership of governments, oil companies, and multilateral organisations to end routine gas flaring at oil production sites around the world. It helps identify solutions to the array of technical, economic and regulatory barriers to flaring reduction. It seeks to end routine gas flaring and venting by 2030.