Re-Visting Flaring In The Bakken -- The WSJ -- January 12, 2020

Updates

Later, 6:02 p.m. CT: denouement here.

Original Post

 From the weekend edition, Saturday-Sunday, January 11 - 12, 2020 -- "Billions of Dollars Up In Smoke."

These are the numbers are compiled by Spencer Jakab in this article.

For what it's worth, it is estimated that ... drum roll ... "flaring may be responsible for 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions."

1%.

That's it.

From all the hand-wringing, I would have bet closer to 99%. LOL.

So, 1%.

The US is #4 in flaring, behind:

• Russia (752 billion cubic feet flared)
• Iraq: 629
• Iran: 611
• US: 498

So, the US is #4 behind those three.

1%. Global flaring. Global emissions. 1%.

And the US is #4.

And in the US, the Bakken is only one of several shale plays flaring natural gas, and it is nowhere the biggest. That would be the Permian.

Jakab's article took up a whole half page of the 12-page "Exchange Section" in the weekend edition. For a non-story in the big scheme of things. And a story that's been repeated over and over for the past several years.

No mention that the manufacturing process of a single wind turbine will release more carbon than that turbine "will save" in a 30-year lifetime.

But I digress.

What a ridiculous article. What a ridiculous issue. My hunch is that Audrey Mascarenhas, CEO of Questor Technology, got to Jakab for the article. Questor Technology produces machines that safely process over 99% of methane and volatile organic compounds at oil wells. It has been widely used in Colorado which has stringent anti-flaring rules.

If something doesn't make sense, google it or follow the money. In this case I followed the money. Right to Questor.

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Low Hanging Fruit

What would be the low-hanging fruit if one wanted to do something about flaring?

More natural gas gathering pipelines and processing plants.

Well, duh.

But what would be the low-hanging fruit to get more of those gas gathering pipelines and processing plants built?

Faster buildout.

And what is the low-hanging fruit for a faster buildout of natural gas processing?

All things being equal, the best thing one could do to build out natural gas processing brings us to NEPA. And Trump will roll back unnecessary regulations meant only to stymie progress.

Speaking of which. This is where Buttigieg does not get it. He rolled out a "one-trillion-dollar infrastructure" program for the United States if he's elected president. He could do as much (and more, and spend nothing) if he simply did what Reagan and Trump worked and work to do: cut unnecessary regulations. Congress and President Buttigieg can pass a "one-trillion-dollar infrastructure" program but with regulations in place, those projects would never see the light of day.

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Flashback

Texan Sophia.

2014.