Capturing associated natural gas at oil production wells

Working to end continuous flaring is an important part of our strategy to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

When oil is brought to the surface, associated natural gas that is trapped with the oil also comes out. In many locations there is no local market for the gas and no facilities, such as natural gas pipelines or liquefaction (LNG) plants and terminals, to make the gas available for international markets. As a result, the gas is burnt near the well, resulting in a flare and associated CO2 emissions.

Reducing our continuous flaring

Flaring can be reduced by finding local uses for the gas, by building pipelines to regional markets or LNG plants for long distance markets.

We are continuing our efforts to reach our target of ending continuous flaring at our upstream locations, other than Nigeria, by 2008. In Nigeria, the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) joint venture expects to end continuous flaring there as planned, during 2009. Achieving this plan depends on funding being secured from our joint venture partners in Nigeria, and on communities allowing us free and safe access to our production sites.

Our performance in 2006

In 2006, our total flaring worldwide dropped. This was mainly because of cuts in production due to major security problems in Nigeria. However, operational changes to increase associated gas recovery in Oman and new equipment installed in 2005 to reduce flaring in Gabon also helped. For more information see our section on environmental performance.

Back to managing our emissions.