North Dakota Natural Gas Flaring Costs $1 Billion Per Year, Adds Pollution Equivalent to One Million Cars

By Myles Collier, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, July 30, 2013

New reports are indicating that North Dakota's oil boom is leading to natural gas flaring which is estimated to burn off roughly $3.6 million worth of natural gas per day.

The report, Flaring Up, was released by the investor group Ceres and states that the monthly cost is over $100 million every month leading to concerns about lost profits as well as potential environmental impact.

The increase in hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, in the northern plains region has led to an increase in flaring, which is the burning of natural gas.

Natural gas is released when oil is extracted but given the comparatively low cost of natural gas, current oil prices are about 30 times that of natural gas, along with the absence of an infrastructure to capture and store the gas, it is simply left to burn off.

In 2012 alone, flaring resulted in the loss of approximately $1 billion with greenhouse gas emissions being equivalent to adding nearly one million cars to the road, the report stated.

But the problem has not gone unnoticed as energy companies develop plans to utilize the energy sources burning off right before their eyes.

"There's a lot of shareholder value going up in flames due to flaring… Investors want companies to have a more aggressive reaction to flaring, and disclose clear steps to fix the problem" Ryan Salmon, who researched the waste, told Reuters.

One of the problems facing energy companies is that many natural gas drilling sites are in remote locations with limited infrastructure in place for storage or transport, requiring the building of pipelines which can cost several hundreds of millions of dollars.

Blaise Energy has come up with a solution for excess natural gas. As reported by Grand Forks Herald, the excess gas is being converted into electricity.

Officials with Blaise Energy explain that new technology allows them to provide electricity to the local grid.

Mark Wald, owner of Blaise Energy, is focused on eliminating the waste but understands that it will take time.

"The goal is to get rid of that flare completely… Flared natural gas… is a waste of energy… we're going to get that problem solved, but it takes a while," Wald told local media.

Wald agrees that pipelines are a good solution. However, he points out that new technology can offer other solutions. Wald stated that the electricity converted from natural gas could be used to replace generators and power equipment in rural areas.