 |
| Photo: Lynn Senick |
Exclusive: Shale causes rise in waste gas
pollution
LONDON | Wed May 2, 2012 1:18pm EDT
LONDON (Reuters) - The shale energy
boom is fuelling a rise in the burning of waste gas after years of decline, a
World Bank source told Reuters ahead of the release of new data, giving
environmentalists more ammunition against the industry.
Global gas flaring crept up by 4.5
percent in 2011, the first rise since 2008 and equivalent to the annual gas use
of Denmark, preliminary data from the World Bank shows.
The increase is mostly due to the
rise in shale oil exploration in North Dakota, propelling the United States into
the top 10 gas flaring countries along with Russia, Nigeria and
Iraq.
The preliminary data - which will be
released in detail later in May - shows that global gas flaring crept up to
around 140 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2011, up from 134 bcm the previous
year.
Flaring is used to eliminate gas at
mineral exploration sites, and is released via pressure relief valves to ease
the strain on equipment.
"The challenge in North Dakota is
that there is a lot of initial exploration and production going on, and often
some flaring is necessary at that stage," the source at the World Bank's Global
Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) said.
"We are hopeful that when the full
data is released, both policymakers and companies in North Dakota will pay more
attention to this issue and take the necessary steps to minimize
flaring."
The data will draw further criticism
to the industry, which some activists already condemn on environmental
grounds.
"Environmental regulations to stop
flaring are taking a real kick in the teeth because the financial crisis has put
the emphasis on increasing competitiveness, while anything that is seen as
diminishing competitiveness is not getting any political traction," Charlie
Kronick, senior climate campaigner at Greenpeace, said.
Britain's annual gas consumption is
just under 100 bcm, and Norway's yearly production just above that - which makes
the 140 bcm flared globally over a third more than Europe's top consumer and
producer, respectively.
In current market terms, 140 bcm of
gas would be worth over $100 billion in barrels of oil equivalent.
ECONOMIC WASTE
Gas flaring has fallen more than 20
bcm since 2006 - despite a slight increase between 2008/2009 - but the rise in
2011 indicates that companies and countries must continue to scale up their
efforts to reduce global flaring, the GGFR said.
Despite massive oil and gas reserves,
many top flaring countries suffer from chronic power shortages and stagnating
gas export volumes which experts say could be addressed if they used the gas
instead of burning it.
"It is key to show producers and
governments that there is a win-win solution - in many cases you're saving the
gas and putting it to a positive use and sometimes you're building energy
infrastructure that can be a catalyst for future economic benefit," Michael
Farina of U.S. energy engineering group GE Energy said.
In Iraq, the World Bank says that the
gas flared is enough to fuel all of the country's electric power needs, most of
which is unmet or generated by heavy fuel and crude oils, while Nigeria also
faces substantial losses from flaring.
"Nigeria loses billions of naira to
wasted gas while the nation's power projects are crippled as a result of lack of
gas supply," Nigerian pressure group Social Action said.
The wasted gas also causes immense
environmental damage, both locally and on a global scale.
The World Bank estimates that the
flaring of gas adds some 360 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in
annual emissions, almost the same as France puts into the atmosphere
each year or the equivalent to the yearly emissions from around 70 million
cars.
If this waste were to take place
within the European Union's carbon emissions trading scheme, the flaring would
cost some 2.5 billion euros ($3.30 billion) at current market value of 7 euros
per metric ton of CO2.
Estimating that flaring amounts to
around 4.5 percent of global industrial emissions, environmental group
Greenpeace says current legislation fails to tackle the issue.
"The problem is that international
oil companies are not penalized for flaring gas," Greenpeace's Kronick
said.
The damage flaring does to local
communities is also immense.
Social groups in Nigeria say that
flaring in the Niger Delta, where some 30 million people live, has gone on for
40 years and led to acid rains, causing many illnesses.
"Flaring of gas endangers human
health and reduces agricultural productivity," Nigeria's Social Action group
said. ($1 = 0.7571 euros)
(Additional reporting by Oleg
Vukmanovic, editing by William Hardy)
Read more here at The Marcellus Effect.
