The Railroad Commission of Texas, the state agency that regulates the oil and natural gas industry, has adopted a series of industry recommendations aimed at reducing flaring, a practice where excess natural gas is burned at wells.
During the agency's Tuesday morning meeting, commissioners voted to approve changes to Statewide Rule 32, which oversees regulations for flaring at oil and natural gas wells across the state.
Most flaring is due to placing wells into production before pipelines are in place to move natural gas to market. It is also sometimes necessary when equipment breaks down.
Commissioners adopted a matrix created by the industry-funded Texas Methane and Flaring Coalition to cut the number of days flaring happens before going to a hearing. In their request, operators will now be required provide more detail about the well and why flaring is being requested.
Report: Flaring wasted $750 million of natural gas in Permian Basin
As part of the process for adopting the new rules, the Railroad Commission has opened 30-day public comment period to discuss the issue before the changes are final.
The practice of flaring and the ease of which the Railroad Commission issues permits to allow it have come under fire by environmentalists and others.
On top of blamed on premature births in the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, oil companies operating in the Permian Basin of West Texas burned and wasted a record $750 million worth of natural gas in 2018.
“Industry is quickly moving to a reality where zero routine flaring is the expected operational standard," said Colin Leyden with the Austin office of the Environmental Denfese Fund. "The commission needs to commit to ending routine flaring by 2025, define interim targets, and stop granting long-term flaring exemptions —like the 30 we saw approved today."
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The new rules are being adopted at a time when both natural gas production and flaring are down as an industry downturn caused by the coronavirus continues to take its toll on drilling and production.
Texas wells produced 735 billion cubic feet of natural gas in May, a 13 pecent drop compared to the 842 billion cubic feet produced in June 2019, Railroad Commission figures show.
Oil companies flared 3.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas in May, an 82 percent drop compared to the 19 billion cubic feet burned in June 2019, agency figures show.
Nearly two-thirds of the decrease in the rate of flaring happened between February and May, Railroad Commission data shows.
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August 04, 2020 at 11:10PM
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Railroad Commission adopts industry recommendations to reduce flaring - Houston Chronicle
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