Flaring Natural Gas -- An Old Story -- But ... Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Update

June 13, 2016: EIA graphic on ND flaring.

July 26, 2014: spreadsheet; natural gas processing plants in North Dakota

May 20, 2014: gas capture plan. Less than 220 wells account for 60% of flaring in North Dakota; much of it on the reservation. 

May 6, 2013: the back story to flaring in the Bakken. A key article from RBN Energy. 

January 27, 2013: FT has story about ND flaring. Fails to mention that percentage of flaring is going down despite production of oil and gas going up. As density of wells increases, flaring will decrease.  This story has (almost) no legs.

September 7, 2012: flaring is not going to "stop" in the North Dakota Bakken -- RBN Energy. 

July 19, 2012: old story in the Christian Science Monitor. 

April 9, 2012: links to questions about flaring.

January 31, 2012: thread on flaring and studies of flaring in North Dakota.

August 15, 2011: I think this story will gradually take care of itself.  North Dakota is perhaps the worst location in the world with regard to flaring natural gas. This is certainly not because North Dakota is not environmentally friendly. In fact, North Dakota, like all farm states has a long history of environmental activism just by its very nature. If Saudi is flaring less than North Dakota (on a percentage basis), I strongly doubt it has to do with Saudi's environmental concerns. Are you kidding me?

This is all about the rapid growth of the Bakken, coming from almost nowhere in 2007, to now pushing North Dakota to number four in the US for producing oil. With every well, new pipelines are being put in and more and more new wells will be tied into a natural gas pipeline.

After the horrendous 2010-2011 winter, and the even worse horrendous 2011 spring, companies are already increasingly talking about improving the infrastructure, code-talk for roads and pipelines. Oil companies have little say in county roads compared to their desire to put in pipelines.

I think with regard to flaring, we are in a win-win situation. If you see flaring decreasing, it's because the infrastructure is being put in. If flaring continues at high levels, it simply means the oil companies are drilling faster than pipelines can be put in. But that will change over the next couple of years. The oil companies are not going to chance another winter/spring of 2010 - 2011.

Original Post

This is an old story here in North Dakota -- the flaring of natural gas, but with this story, one gets the sense that at some point, something might have to give.

I am getting out on a limb because I don't know the real issues here, but in the old days, it was not practical to put in a natural gas pipeline until the operator knew whether there was a profitable well there or not. But with literally every well in the Bakken a producer, one can argue that the companies need to put in the infrastructure, including a natural gas pipeline before drilling a well. Or maybe technology on site to compress natural gas/liquefy natural gas instead of flaring. I don't know if the technology is available, practical, or cost-effective. Probably not, due to the fact the companies continue to flare.

Again, I am well beyond what I should be writing about here, I suppose, but something tells me we will be reading more about flaring in the future, rather than less.

Here's the Reuters' story on flaring.

Flaring of natural gas from wells is on the upswing in Texas and North Dakota as oil and gas producers rush to develop new shale plays, and critics are not happy about it.

Flaring, once a common practice, involves burning off natural gas that cannot be captured and sold in order to produce more valuable oil. It is frowned upon because it causes air pollution, boosts global warming and wastes natural resources.

Read the full article to find why North Dakota is still at an advantage (compared to Texas) when it comes to flaring.

One piece of good news, see first comment below: royalties must be paid on the flared gas after 90 days, so at least mineral owners are compensated.