Permian gas flaring hits new record highs for 'widespread waste,' pollution

GARDEN CITY, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Flared natural gas is burned off at Apache Corporations operations at the Deadwood natural gas plant in the Permian Basin on February 5, 2015 in Garden City, Texas. Apache sends an estimated 50-52 million cubic feet per day of natural gas to this plant. As crude oil prices have fallen nearly 60 percent globally, many American communities that became dependent on oil revenue are preparing for hard times. Texas, which benefited from hydraulic fracturing and the shale drilling revolution, tripled its production of oil in the last five years. The Texan economy saw hundreds of billions of dollars come into the state before the global plunge in prices. Across the state drilling budgets are being slashed and companies are notifying workers of upcoming layoffs. According to federal labor statistics, around 300,000 people work in the Texas oil and gas industry, 50 percent more than four years ago. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) less GARDEN CITY, TX - FEBRUARY 05: Flared natural gas is burned off at Apache Corporations operations at the Deadwood natural gas plant in the Permian Basin on February 5, 2015 in Garden City, Texas. Apache sends ... more Photo: Spencer Platt, Staff / Getty Images Photo: Spencer Platt, Staff / Getty Images Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Permian gas flaring hits new record highs for 'widespread waste,' pollution 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

The flaring of natural gas in West Texas' booming Permian Basin has exceeded previous estimates and is now contributing to far more "widespread waste" and pollution than ever before, according to a new report.

Burned off or vented natural gas in the Permian is projected at a new high of 661 million cubic feet per day in June, way up from previous record highs of about 450 million cubic feet a day late last year, the Norwegian research firm Rystad Energy said Tuesday.

The most productive gas field in the Gulf of Mexico - Shell Oil's Mars-Ursa complex - only produces 40 percent of the gas that's currently wasted in the Permian, Rystad said, putting the data into context.

As companies drill for oil, they're also pumping out large volumes of associated natural gas that frequently has nowhere to go because of temporary pipeline shortages in the region. So they're opting to simply waste the gas by burning it off in a practice know as flaring until new outlets can carry their energy products to market.

Houston's Kinder Morgan is currently building two massive gas pipelines to carry the product to the Gulf Coast markets in Corpus Christi and Houston, but only one of them will be completed this year.

"We anticipate that basin-wide flaring will stay above 650 million cubic feet a day before the Gulf Coast Express pipeline comes online in the second half of 2019," says Artem Abramov, head of shale research at Rystad.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is a potent greenhouse gas that traps considerably more heat in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, helping to accelerate climate change.

RELATED: Apache cuts back production of Permian gas because of pricing

For context, flaring in the Permian was less than 200 million cubic feet a day in mid-2017 and was less than 20 million cubic feet daily at the beginning of 2011 before the recent Permian boom took off.

The problem isn't just in the Permian. North Dakota's Bakken shale is seeing about 500 million cubic feet of gas wasted each day. Combined, that's about 1.15 billion cubic feet daily - more than enough to fuel a country like Israel, Rystad said.

Well more than $2 million of natural gas is wasted each day in the Permian and Bakken.

The booming Permian, which extends into New Mexico, now accounts for one-third of the nation's record-high crude oil production, but also nearly one-fifth of the country's natural gas output.

Some companies have recently opted to scale back production in the gassier portions of the Permian. In April, Houston's Apache Corp. said it dramatically cut back natural gas production in its Alpine High development in the Permian because of steep pricing discounts caused by pipeline shortages.

"This is the proper approach from both an environmental and economic perspective relative to other industry practices such as flaring or selling associated gas at a negative or unprofitable price," said Apache Chief Executive John Christmann.

Flaring permits for each well are for 45 days at a time, but they're being routinely extended by state regulators for the maximum of six months.

Rystad observed that many new Permian wells are flaring gas for six months.