Flaring in the North Sea fell by 22% – approximately equivalent to the gas demand of 200,000 UK homes – in 2020 compared with the previous year, said the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA).
Production facilities cut the overall volume to 33 billion cubic feet (bcf) which is the lowest level of flaring on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) on OGA records.
Flaring intensity, the measure of how much gas was flared per unit of oil produced, also decreased from 114 standard cubic feet of gas for every barrel of oil (scf/bbl) to 95 in 2020, a 10-year low.
The OGA said that the measure had fallen for three consecutive years from 128 in 2017.
The reductions follow increased focus by the OGA, which began benchmarking performance last year and now also publishes data every month.
The OGA issues the consents for flaring and venting of gas and closely scrutinises requests from operators, in both existing production and new field development plans.
“Reasons for the cut – which saw a year-on-year fall in every month – vary from field-to-field, but include increasing use of flare-reduction technology on some platforms and fewer planned shutdowns, making 2020 a particularly low flaring year,” said the OGA.
“A flare gas recovery unit on one platform has cut out routine flaring and reduced the volume of flared gas by around 60% in a year.”
GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY TARGETS
Also last year, the industry’s trade association Oil and Gas UK (OGUK) published Pathway to a Net-Zero basin: Production Emissions Targets in which it set a target of halving all emissions by 2030, including from flaring and venting.
OGUK also plans to publish a Methane Action Plan later this year.
The Government’s Energy White Paper, published in December 2020, is committed to the World Bank’s ‘Zero routine flaring by 2030’ initiative.
The OGA is also preparing to publish updated guidance for the industry later in the year, which will set out the revised regulatory approach to flaring and venting and changes to the consenting and reporting regime.
VENTING
Venting is the discharging of gases into the atmosphere and flaring is burning the gases before they are discharged. Both are needed for safety and operational reasons but OGA says that the industry can do more to reduce the amount.
Vented gas offshore represents about 0.15% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions.
Venting, which fell significantly from 2018 to 2019, was a more mixed picture in 2020.
In 2020, 3.6 bcf of gases were vented, an increase of 0.42 bcf.
Within that total, venting of methane – which has a high atmospheric warming potential – decreased by 0.07 bcf in 2020 to 0.79 bcf, but venting of CO2 (and other non-hydrocarbon gas) increased by 0.49 bcf to 2.8 bcf.
The OGA said it was aware of the sources of the increase and was taking steps to address them at source, and with the relevant parties.