Gas flaring contributes greatly to carbon emissions, Stanford University researchers

NATURAL GAS FLARING HAS been identified as a major cause of carbon emissions in the atmosphere as researchers at Stanford University have said nothing drives up the carbon emissions like routinely burning of natural gas.

Mohammad Masnadi, a researcher at Stanford University’s School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences, who is also the lead author of the paper, gave an example on how different density in crude oil (light or heavy crude) might have no effect on carbon emission if routine natural gas flaring is allowed.

He said that “everybody talks about heavy crude oil, oil sands and unconventional resources, but the research shows that a country like Algeria, which produces the lightest crude oil in the world, has the highest carbon intensity because oilfield operators routinely burn large amounts of gas. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has relatively low carbon intensity because it flares little gas and has vast resources with low water content, which means less energy goes into treating and separating the oil.”

Adam Brandt, a professor at Stanford University who also worked on the paper proffered solutions and said that with proper regulations, gas flaring could be reduced.

“Really, the challenge with flaring is there needs to be a policy or a regulatory apparatus to say, ‘Burning gas with no purpose isn’t allowed; put it back in the ground or find something useful to do with it,” Brandt said.

The paper also revealed that world’s crude oil production is responsible for a large part of the carbon di oxide (Co2) emissions in the atmosphere as an estimate of 9,000 oilfields in 90 countries produced greenhouse gases equivalent to 1.7 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide.

Masnadi also said total emissions from crude oil pro- duction may be higher than even these latest calculations suggest, because the current analysis does not fully capture emissions related to leakage and venting of methane, a powerful global warming gas.

The study found out that Venezuela and Canada rank among the most carbon-intensive oil producers because of the high energy needs and emissions associated with extracting heavy oil from unconventional reserves like tar sands, while Norway which has eliminated routine gas flaring has reduced its carbon footprint by almost 43 percent.

They also advised that the world could avoid as much as 18 gigatonnes of emissions from the oil production expected to continue under even aggressive scenarios if it shifts away from fossil fuels, mainly by stopping extraction of the dirtiest resources and improving gas management.