Update On North Dakota's Flaring Rules -- Great, Great News For All -- Pragmatic -- Not Going Down The Road-To-New-Zealand -- Not Trying To Save The World -- April 18, 2018

From The Bismarck Tribune:

North Dakota regulators are keeping current benchmarks for reducing wasteful flaring of excess natural gas but are giving industry more flexibility to comply.

The North Dakota Industrial Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt changes to the gas capture policy, many of which were recommended by an industry task force.

“They’re saying they will get to 88 percent by Nov. 1,” said Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources.

The changes expand some of the caveats that allow industry to be in compliance with the gas capture policy even if a company’s flaring rate exceeds the benchmark.

For example, industry can exclude flared volumes from the first 14 days of production. The revised policy increases that to the first 60 days.

In addition, the commission will change how it treats flared gas outside of the Bakken core where infrastructure is underdeveloped and gas is considered “stranded.” Allowing some temporary exemptions for stranded gas aims to incentivize pipeline development in those areas, Helms said.

Bottom line:

• industry can exclude flaring data for 60 days, up from 15 days
• "stranded" wells could be declared temporarily exempt from flaring rules