Four things to know about global gas flaring and what we need to do to stop it

Gas flaring, the practice of burning gas associated with oil extraction, remains a persistent global problem – driving up methane emissions that are pushing the planet toward potentially irreversible tipping points.   

Despite the introduction of direct observations of flaring from satellites more than 15 years ago and prominent global commitments launched in the 2010s to reduce this wasteful and harmful practice, oil and gas producers have continued to flare gas at alarming levels.  

A new report from Clean Air Task Force (CATF) reveals the true scope of flaring emissions from ten major international oil companies (IOCs). For the first time, the report uses satellite observations combined with detailed asset and ownership data from Rystad Energy to account for flaring from both operated and non-operated assets, offering a more comprehensive understanding of the industry’s environmental impact and its capacity to end flaring for good. 

With the launch of two new methane tracking satellites this year, the international community has an opportunity – and an urgent need – to act on expanding data resources to ensure that methane reduction pledges don’t fall into the same trap of unrealized goals seen with zero-routine flaring pledges. As global leaders gather for COP29, this report underscores the critical role of both voluntary and regulatory actions in making real progress toward eliminating flaring and driving down methane emissions. 

Here’s what to know about global gas flaring and how we can stop it:

1. Flaring is a waste of resources, harmful to people and the climate 

Flaring is a process used by the oil and gas industry to burn off excess gas produced during operations, especially when capturing or transporting the gas is not economically viable. This process releases carbon dioxide, a leading greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. Flaring also results in the incomplete combustion of methane – a potent greenhouse gas with more than 80 times the warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. That makes reducing flaring an essential strategy for reducing the impact of climate change in our lifetimes. Beyond the climate impacts, flaring poses significant risks to human health, emitting hazardous pollutants, including particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. 

2. Most companies report on revenues, but omit key emissions sources 

The oil and gas industry operates through a complex web of assets, which we can categorize as operated or non-operated. Operated assets are those where a company directly oversees day-to-day operations. In contrast, non-operated assets are ventures where a company holds a financial stake but does not run day-to-day operations. 

All oil and gas companies bear responsibility for flaring at assets from which they are profiting, even if they are not the operator. However, company commitments to reduce flaring – like the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring (ZRF) Initiative – mostly do not apply to non-operated assets, and flaring from non-operated assets is largely missing from company sustainability reports. 

Using satellite flare observations and detailed asset and ownership information from Rystad Energy, our report attributes flare volumes to each company based on their ownership percentage in these assets, regardless of whether they have operational control. This approach provides a more comprehensive representation of the companies’ true flaring impact. 

3. Ten international companies can influence nearly 40% of global flaring emissions 

Collectively, the ten IOCs – BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Eni, Equinor, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, Repsol, Shell, and TotalEnergies – are responsible for 7% of global flaring. That’s an enormous amount of flaring, which in 2023 amounted to approximately 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas, or enough to meet the demands of Norway and Austria combined. Including non-operated assets doubles the estimates of emissions from these companies with more than half of this flaring volume coming from the non-operated assets. 

The report also highlights that the IOCs have the potential to influence an even larger share of global flaring. They have direct influence on 15% of total global flaring, when accounting for the full volume of flaring that occurs at assets in which they have invested capital. Furthermore, by leveraging their financial and operational relationships with national oil companies and other partners, the IOCs could indirectly influence up to 40% of global flaring. 

Examining performance at the company level also reveals a striking disparity between operated and non-operated assets. Seven of the ten IOCs show higher flaring intensities –measured as the volume of gas flared per barrel of oil produced – at non-operated ventures, where they have less direct control. None of the companies have achieved flaring intensities below 0.6 cubic meters of gas per barrel (m³/bbl) across their portfolios, a level well above the International Energy Agency’s Net Zero Emissions scenario target of 0.3 m³/bbl by 2030. The Net Zero Emissions scenario shows a pathway for the energy sector to achieve net zero CO₂ emissions by 2050, and it includes a 95% flaring reduction by 2030, which is consistent with the 0.3 m³/bbl target used in this report. 

4. We need to move beyond zero routine flaring, and reduce all flaring 

The IOCs in this report have committed to ending routine flaring by 2030 as part of the World Bank’s ZRF Initiative. However, only 30% of the flaring by these companies in 2022 was classified as routine. This means that even if they meet this target, 70% of “non-routine” flaring could remain unaddressed, jeopardizing the International Energy Agency’s goal of a 95% global reduction by 2030. 

Focusing solely on ‘Zero Routine Flaring’ is no longer enough. We must raise the level of ambition to eliminate nearly all non-emergency flaring—both routine and non-routine—at oil and gas assets worldwide. The IOCs have an outsized influence to make this happen through their joint ventures and partnerships around the world, and by using their technical skills and financial resources to assist more resource-constrained companies in low- and middle-income countries with whom they partner.  

Flaring is a large but very solvable problem. While existing efforts to capture and utilize gas that would otherwise be flared are commendable, the pace of these projects must be sped up drastically to match the size of the problem on a global scale.