A new report from consulting firm East Daley Analytics and Validere, measurement, reporting and verification firm, said natural gas flaring in Permian Basin could increase next year as the region’s production exceeds available pipeline capacity. Reuters reported that increased flaring “could reduce shale oil production in the region as major oil-producing companies seek to limit climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions… Companies need to move that gas to market (or burn or reinject it) to sustain oil production.”
Justin Carlson, CCO of East Daley Analytics, added, “In an ideal world, infrastructure would stay ahead of supply growth. But for both commercial and regulatory reasons, production-limiting constraints can occur.”
The report issued last month estimated pipeline takeaway capacity will fall short of gas production by an average of 200 million cubic feet per day in 2023 and the first half of 2024 before capacity increases to about 500 million cfd in May 2024. Total amount of U.S. gas flared and vented or released into the atmosphere fell to a four-year low of 785 million cfd in 2021, which was about 0.7 percent of the gross amount of gas withdrawn that year.