Progress in reducing gas flaring resumed in 2022, with gas flared worldwide having decreased by five-billion cubic meters (bcm) to 139 bcm, which is its lowest level since 2010, according to new satellite data compiled by global development finance body the World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR).
The reduction in 2022 is equivalent to taking three-million cars off the road, the partnership states.
"After a decade of stalled progress, global gas flaring volumes fell in 2022 by around 3%, which is a welcome drop, especially during a time of concern about energy security for many countries. We continue to encourage all oil producers to seize opportunities to end this polluting and wasteful practice," says World Bank Infrastructure VP Guangzhe Chen.
Nigeria, Mexico and the US accounted for most of the decline in global gas flaring in 2022. Further, Kazakhstan and Colombia stand out for consistently having reduced flaring volumes in the past seven years.
In addition to the overall reduction in flare volume, global flaring intensity, which is the amount of flaring per barrel of oil produced, also fell to its lowest level since satellite data began owing to the 5% increase in oil production in 2022.
This indicates a gradual and sustained decoupling of oil production from flaring, the GGFR says.
However, despite this progress, the top nine flaring countries continue to be responsible for the vast majority of flaring, with Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, the US and Venezuela accounting for nearly three-quarters of flare volumes and under half of global oil production.
The satellite data shows that decreased Russian gas exports to the European Union (EU) did not increase gas flaring in Russia. Throughout 2022, the EU significantly increased its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Angola, Egypt, Norway, the US and Qatar, and via pipeline from Azerbaijan and Norway.
Of these countries, only Angola, Egypt and the US have made substantial progress in converting associated gas that would otherwise be flared into LNG exports, the global body said.
GGFR estimates that, in 2022, gas flaring released 357-million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents, 315-million tonnes in the form of carbon dioxide and 42-million tonnes in the form of methane.
Further, the report also considers the state of the science and the uncertainty surrounding how much methane is released from flaring. It finds that methane emissions owing to flaring could be significantly higher than previously estimated.
For example, if the average flare is five percentage points less efficient at combusting methane, then globally the amount of methane released would be three-times higher than currently estimated, the report highlights.
"We are concerned by the amount of methane emitted through flaring, particularly from flares that are not working properly. Methane is a far more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide in the short term. Therefore, we need to understand this more and are ramping up our efforts to help developing countries tackle methane emissions," says GGFR programme manager Zubin Bamji.