As of January 2022, and directly after the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, the total number of countries announced their pledges to net zero emission or carbon neutrality reached 136 countries. Also, 234 major cities and 683 major companies announced their pledges to achieve net zero emissions or carbon neutrality. Gas flaring is one of the major contributors to global warming that can be tackled through the strategic design of new facilities or deployment of new technologies to minimize the flaring.

The World Bank reported in July 2020 that the satellite data shows global gas flaring in 2019 increased to levels last seen in 2009 to 150 billion cubic meters (BCM) compared to 145 BCM in 2018. For the last 30 years, the total global flaring is hovering around 150 billion cubic meters per year with no sign of slowing down. Gas flaring is not only a major global polluter but also wastes scarce hydrocarbon resources that can be utilized in reducing the global gas emissions by replacing liquid hydrocarbon or coal in power generation. The approximate value of the global flared gas is equivalent to 900 million barrel of crude oil per year assuming gas heating value of 1050 btu/scf which represent about 2.5% of the global oil production. 

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The equivalent of the global gas flaring:

The graph below shows the the significance of the global gas flaring equivalent. 150 BCM per day of flared gas is equivalent to:

  1. 900 million barrel of oil equivalent per year. 
  2. Electrifying 77 million US homes
  3.  Or running 82 million cars 
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References

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  7. Mohamed Ahmed Soliman; Samusideen A Salu; Abdullah Y Al-Aiderous; Nisar Ahmad Ansari; Khamis Al-Hajri; Ellyes Mecikar.” Unconventional Waste & Flare Gas Recovery System UFGRS in New Circular Economy”. Paper SPE-207956-MS presented at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE, November 2021. https://doi.org/10.2118/207956-MS 
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  9. Trent Jacobs, “Innovators Seek To Transform Flaring Into Money and Power,” J Pet Technol 72 (03): 24–29, Paper Number: SPE-0320-0024-JPT, https://doi.org/10.2118/0320-0024-JPT 
  10. Venugopal Bakthavachsalam; Gerald Buendia; Haitham Al Hashimi, “Maintaining Flare Tip Health,” Paper presented at the Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition & Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE, November 2018, Paper Number: SPE-192961-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/192961-MS 
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  14. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/469561534950044964/pdf/GGFR-Technology-Overview-Utilization-of-Small-Scale-Associated-Gas.pdf