The Climate Cost of Flare Emissions

Many oil and gas producers use flaring as a way to burn off excess natural gas. This practice is intended to prevent methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from releasing into the atmosphere. Unfortunately, researchers have found that the effectiveness of flaring has been overestimated by a factor of five. Before this data came to light, industries and regulators thought that operating flares burnt off 98% of methane. Data from aerial studies show that flares were unlit 3-5% of the time, and the ones that were lit operated at a lower efficiency. In the end, only 91% of methane was burnt by the flares. The rest escaped into the atmosphere.
While this news means that far more methane is contributing to climate change via flares than was thought, it also presents a way to mitigate further methane release. If industry professionals and regulators make sure flares operate as they should, the resulting atmospheric benefit is the equivalent of removing 3 million cars off the roads.
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