Global gas flaring trends in the age of COVID-19
Abstract
Flaring is widely used by the oil and gas (O&G) industry to dispose of natural gas for which there is insufficient infrastructure to support sending to market. It is particularly prevalent in oil-producing basins lacking sufficient gas gathering infrastructure. The practice wastes energy resources and increases the greenhouse gas footprint of O&G operations. In 2019, the O&G industry flared an estimated 5.3 Tcf of natural gas, equivalent to 3.7% of global gas production, continuing an increasing trend since 2017. In the first half of 2020, two forces combined to significantly disrupt O&G production dynamics, i.e., a dramatic slump in crude oil prices and a concomitant and unprecedented decline in consumer demand associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. In this study, we use nighttime fire and flare data observed by the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument onboard the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership satellite to track and quantify monthly trends in gas flaring between January 2019 and June 2020. Our study includes the top oil producing basins, accounting for 80% of global oil production. For the period between February and May 2020, preliminary results indicate a sharp decline in basin-specific mean VIIRS-derived gas flaring radiant heat and the number of gas flaring facilities. These declines closely match oil production trends, suggesting a strong correlation. This presentation will explore these patterns in the context of diverse explanatory variables at the basin level, along with a discussion of the policy implications. These trends have significant implications for greenhouse gas emissions mitigation, as the flares are responsible for significant methane emissions due to varying levels of incomplete combustion.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMA005.0021O
- Keywords:
-
- 3360 Remote sensing;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 0240 Public health;
- GEOHEALTH;
- 1640 Remote sensing;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 4337 Remote sensing and disasters;
- NATURAL HAZARDS