Wasting gas

nicholas bonham-carter

Such a shame this valuable resource has to be wasted, just because of being so cheap!—NBC

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/energy/2019/12/24/the-permian-basin-is-getting-gassier-as-wells-age-and-oil-output-declines/

Solid_Fuel_Man

I wonder if innovation would come if prices rose. My small brain cannot comprehend flairs. Although I maintain some at landfills...

Steamhead

It would probably take government intervention to stop flaring.

nicholas bonham-carter

The oil companies seem to be required to apply for permits to flare the extra gas off.--NBC

SlamDunk

It is a shameful waste but not flaring is worse.

We are a mess. One century we're destroying the ozone, the next we're creating a greenhouse.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/12/climate/texas-methane-super-emitters.html

Jamie Hall

Natural gas is an almost inevitable part of oil extraction. It's also highly flammable. Therefore, one needs to deal with it safely -- and economically. It's the economical and regulatory aspect which is the problem. In principle, it could all be collected and piped for commercial use, but it often requires treatment to rid it of hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide, and water -- which is expensive -- and shipping it out either requires compression or liquefaction -- also expensive -- or pipelines -- which are both expensive and often, these days, NIMBYed. So...

Flare it in a controlled way.

Sal Santamaura

SlamDunk said:

...One century we're destroying the ozone, the next we're creating a greenhouse...

Nah, we've been creating an unnatural, dangerous greenhouse since starting to burn fossil fuels three centuries ago. Inflection point of atmospheric CO2 concentration was early last century.

It's important not to confuse what uninformed people were talking about at a given time with what was really happening and understood by those having expertise.