The Oil and Gas Authority’s (OGA) has for the first time expanded its benchmarking to the flaring and venting of greenhouse gases on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) - detailing flaring and venting activity levels in the North Sea and the resulting contribution to UK oil and gas greenhouse gas emissions.
The Flaring and Venting benchmarking report can be viewed here
The volume of gas flared and vented in offshore upstream oil and gas production last year was equivalent to 3% of all the natural gas produced in 2019. While some venting, which is discharging gases to the atmosphere, and flaring, which is burning gases before they are discharged, is unavoidable for safety and operational reasons, more can be done to reduce this number.
The OGA issues consents for flaring and venting of gas on extant licences and is exploring tougher measures as part of this process, to eliminate unnecessary or wasteful flaring and venting. As part of the OGA’s commitment to integrating net zero considerations into its work, it is aiming to closely scrutinise operator flaring and venting requests – in both existing production and in new field development plans. The OGA has also now introduced benchmarking of flaring and venting data in order to drive improved performance across industry.
A PDF version of the report can be found here.