Illicit flaring rampant in Texas, group says

Opponents contend Permian Basin report politicized, deceptive

More than two-thirds of oil wells monitored in flyovers last year in West Texas were flaring without a permit, according to a new report by an environmental group.

Alvarado, Texas-based Earthworks on Thursday said at least 69 percent of 227 wells viewed in the Permian Basin were burning off natural gas without permits from the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry in the state. Texas law allows flaring with RRC permission or for 10 days without a permit under some circumstances.

“As the world’s climate scientists tell us we need to cut methane pollution to avoid climate catastrophe, Texas regulators can’t even be bothered to track methane flaring,” Earthworks Texas analyst Jack McDonald said in a statement.

Amid climate change concerns, the oil and gas industry faces scrutiny over flaring, which releases harmful greenhouse gases such as methane. A trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the Permian Basin of West Texas has been flared since 2013, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association, pushed back against the Earthworks study, calling it “an unserious report that should not fool anyone.”

“The authors ignore or dismiss anything that might contradict their preconceived and politically driven narrative, including the fact that flared gas volumes in Texas have fallen more than 70 percent over the past two years and that methane intensity in the Permian Basin has also fallen 77 percent since 2011,” Longanecker said in an email.

The Railroad Commission has been cracking down on the practice and aims to end routine flaring —which occurs when there is a lack of gas gathering and processing systems to take it to market — by 2030. The Texas Methane and Flaring Coalition, a group of seven oil and gas trade associations and more than 40 Texas operators, are working to improve operations to minimize flaring, although they maintain the right to flare for safety reasons.

Earthworks, however, found that the Railroad Commission routinely approves most flaring permit requests, which have increased 65 fold over the past decade. Companies are required to justify flaring, with some operators citing economics, issues with pipelines and refineries, and mechanical failures at the wellhead.

The Railroad Commission has not rejected a flaring application since 2012, totaling more than 27,000 permits. It issued a record number, almost 7,000 in 2019, before the global pandemic plunged demand for oil products.

Flaring fell to its lowest level in nearly a decade during the pandemic. Norwegian energy research firm Rystad estimates that during the fourth quarter of 2020, operators burned off 390 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, about 1.6 percent of gas production, an eight-year low. During

2018 and 2019, more than 4 percent of the natural gas produced in the Permian Basin was flared.

Since 2019 the Railroad Commission approved 9,200 flaring permits, of which about 1,000 were extended, according to Earthworks.

Several oil companies were flaring without permits last year, Earthworks said, including Exxon Mobil (six flares without a permit, one of which was reported as an emergency), Royal Dutch Shell (seven without a permit), ConocoPhillips (four) and Occidental Petroleum (14).

Exxon in a statement said the Earthworks study is “inaccurate, deliberately misleading and omits important data.” The Texas oil major said it complies with all rules and regulations pertaining to flaring. ConocoPhillips said it complies with regulations and often exceeds regulatory requirements. Shell said it did not identify any areas where it was out of compliance. Oxy said 13 of its 14 wells reported by Earthworks were not subject to permitting regulations.

The environmental group analyzed public flyover data from the Environmental Defense Fund. Helicopters in January, March and June last year observed 227 flares, of which 192, or 84 percent, were not permitted. Some wells were found flaring without a permit on multiple flyovers.

Earthworks called on the state to stop issuing flaring permits for new oil and gas wells, to prohibit permit extensions and to increase enforcement actions against violators.

The scale of unpermitted flaring “is the consequence of a conscious choice by the RRC not to put sufficient effort into determining if the law is being violated, never mind enforcing the law when it is violated,” Earthworks said. “It is clear the RRC is not equipped or motivated to track, monitor, and regulate the rapidly expanding oil and gas industry.”

The Railroad Commission responded to Earthworks, saying some flaring may be allowed without permits, such as during construction, maintenance or repair. It sought to cast doubt on the findings, saying “a short-term observation of a flare and absence of an explicit exception does not necessarily mean the observed flaring is illegal.”