How is flaring associated gas increasing greenhouse gas emissions?

Oil production, without which the existence of modern civilization is impossible, is a rather complex and environmentally unsafe process. Along with emergency situations that occur during oil production and transportation, the burning of associated petroleum gas has a negative impact on the environmental situation.

Associated petroleum gas is a valuable resource, but in the process of oil production it is only a by-product that requires disposal. Associated petroleum gas is a mixture of various gases, most of which are methane and propane. But since the associated gas has a complex and variable composition, it comes out under different pressures, and in the process of oil extraction its parameters are constantly changing, its direct use is associated with a number of technical and material difficulties. Of course, you can collect associated gas and send it for processing, but this process is very expensive, and the organization of its civilized utilization in small and medium fields is simply unprofitable. For this reason, the most optimal solution to the “associated petroleum gas problem” worldwide is to burn it, as a result of which significant volumes of carbon dioxide, as well as nitrogen oxides and other pollutants, enter the atmosphere. The numerous torches that can be seen in photographs of oil fields are nothing more than the burning of associated petroleum gas.

Of course, this process harms the environment and degrades the quality of atmospheric air, which is enriched in combustion products. Against the backdrop of the struggle of mankind with the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such a practice of utilizing associated petroleum gas was recognized as detrimental to the ecology of the planet. But even today, despite the development of recycling technologies and close public attention to this issue, associated petroleum gas flaring is widespread in oil-producing countries.

According to experts, in 2017 (for the first time since 2010) there was a decrease in the volume of associated petroleum gas burned on our planet. According to the World Bank, this indicator amounted to 141 billion cubic meters last year, while in 2016, 148 billion cubic meters burned in the world. m associated petroleum gas. Over the past years, Russia has been reducing the volume of associated petroleum gas flared, and our country’s share in the volume of flared gas is about 10% (according to 2014 data). Other countries seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using rather than burning associated gas include Venezuela and Mexico. At the same time, countries such as Nigeria, Iran, Iraq and Algeria continue to supply significant amounts of associated petroleum gas combustion products to the atmosphere.