Industry proposes solution to flaring

Flaring has challenged North Dakota. Despite significant investments in gathering natural gas — about $5 billion since 2006 — the percentage of burned-off gas remains nearly constant. Exploration continues to greatly exceed the reach of gathering pipelines.

It’s wasteful. It represents lost revenue for the owners of mineral rights, oil and gas producers and the state in the form of tax revenues. It would be better if the state’s natural gas was burned to heat homes, create electricity or as fuel.

For the first time, there’s a proposed solution. And it comes from industry.

The flaring task force, organized by the North Dakota Petroleum Council, has proposed strategies that would reduce flaring from the present 30 percent to 15 percent within two years and to 10 percent in six years. The group also says a reduction to 5 percent flaring is possible if everyone gets on board.

Given past experience, these are huge reductions.

Be sure to know that what’s proposed isn’t simple or easy. Success for the proposal will require commitment and for some, sacrifice.

The desire to reduce flaring will have to drive changes in how we do things, the biggest obstacle being the self interests (and rights) of each player — drilling companies, natural gas companies, mineral rights owners, landowners, tribal officials, local government and the state.

What’s involved:

— Increased communication and planning between drillers and midstream companies, those who gather and process natural gas. Oil companies would have to submit plans to capture natural gas from a well prior to getting a drilling permit. That work falls to industry. But holding companies accountable for following plans will be the responsibility of the state Industrial Commission. Industry does have a self interest here, but so do the people of North Dakota.

— Formation of a separate task force to study “potential legislation to improve” right of way access. Industry representatives say the difficulty in obtaining rights of way results in major delays in connecting new wells to natural gas gathering lines. The study group would have representatives of state agencies, including the attorney general’s office, as well as county leaders, landowner groups and industry members.

Because of concerns about property rights, making right of way acquisition easier will be challenging. Landowners and legislators will be loath to weaken property rights, even a little. Will a reduction in flaring be enough to mitigate these landowner concerns?

The difficulty in obtaining rights of way often can be tracked to landowners who have had bad experiences after granting rights of way. The flaring task force proposes a hotline to the Industrial Commission for the reporting of landowner problems and questions, and the development of follow-up mechanisms to address those calls and “ensure quality control.”

— Having natural gas gathering lines in place as oil fields expand would do a great deal to reduce flaring. While oil companies accept a high degree of risk for their investments, the companies that gather and process natural gas do not. They want to know for sure they will be able to gather enough gas from new wells before they lay pipe.

Those different views of risk can be seen in the delays in developing infrastructure. The flaring task force proposes a bundle of property tax credits, production tax credits and low interest loans for pipelines and electric transmission. The idea is to provide incentives and reduce risk.

— Continued support from the state for value-added ventures that make use of natural gas.

Flaring is a big, complex problem. It requires a big solution. The proposal from the Petroleum Council already represents a great deal of hard work from more than 30 oil-related companies — normally vigorous competitors. The proposal offers practical, although challenging, initiatives that could reduce flaring to an acceptable level in this state in a reasonable time.

It speaks for a common need to address a significant shared problem.

4 Comments on "Industry proposes solution to flaring"

rollin on Sun, 2nd Feb 2014 5:40 pm 



Charge them for flaring, that will get them moving.

J-Gav on Sun, 2nd Feb 2014 8:09 pm 



Flaring’s a bitch, but it’s a much bigger bitch in, say, Nigeria, than in North Dakota …

Northwest Resident on Sun, 2nd Feb 2014 8:24 pm 



The route I used to run and do my bike ride on took me past the city sewage disposal plant. There was always a huge flair coming out of the pipe, which was the methane being created by all the sewage in the underground tanks. I asked a city manager one time, why not capture and use that fuel instead of wasting it. His answer — regulations, safety requirements, need for investment, unhappy competitors.

We’re all tied up in knots — that’s why we can’t do the logical thing these days.

Dave Thompson on Mon, 3rd Feb 2014 12:37 am 



All I hear is oh we are fracking for energy independence. Yet 1/3 of the gas is flared, how dumb are we?