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> Straight up burning methane is the same whether it is via flare or generator. This isn't correct. Flaring can be fairly inefficient. https://arstechnica.com/
by anonporridge 3y ago
> Straight up burning methane is the same whether it is via flare or generator.
This isn't correct. Flaring can be fairly inefficient. https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/oil-industry-flaring-less-effective-than-thought-study/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/oil-industry-flaring...
Even if you can make flaring more efficient, you're going to need a fairly hard stick to keep oil producers in line because flaring efficiently is a pure cost. On the other hand, running it through a generator presumably earns money, so is a carrot that businesses can pursue.
The big stick approach might work fine in the US with a strong handed state, but methane emissions are a global problem, and most poor oil producers in regions with no big stick may not even bother flaring at all and just vent, whereas they might pursue more money.
- auspiv 3y agoInteresting, I was not aware of the 91% vs 98% flaring vs combustion efficiency. Seems like a relatively recent finding based on the Ars article date. You are correct in that many countries DGAF and just flare/vent the combined equivalent of multiple Texas's. Iraq, for example, flared 16.8 bcm (= 593 billion cubic feet) in 2018. https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/natural-gas-production-and-flaring-in-iraq-2000-2030 https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/natural-gas-p...
- anonporridge 3y agoAnother example from Turkmenistan. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/mind-boggling-methane-emissions-from-turkmenistan-revealed https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/may/09/mind-boggling-... > Together, the two fields released emissions equivalent to 366m tonnes of CO2, more than the UK’s annual emissions, which are the 17th-biggest in the world. Turkmenistan has 1/10th the population of the UK and 1/6th the GDP per capita.
- bparsons 3y agoTurkmenistan also has the largest proven gas reserves on earth.
- ZeroGravitas 3y agoOne big stick is to measure the methane/carbon emissions via satellite etc. and then add that as a carbon fee to exports (of both oil/gas and anything else made using energy) from that region.