Natural Gas Flaring & Energy Transition

In the context of climate change, it is generally agreed that natural gas has manifest advantages as a ‘transition fuel’ that offers a potential bridge from overuse of coal and petroleum to a renewable low-carbon future. However, the widespread ongoing practice of natural gas flaring—the burning of unwanted gas for economic reasons—is severely criticized for hampering progress in its flagrant waste of both valuable resources and revenues. This important book covers natural gas flaring policies across twenty leading oil and gas jurisdictions from a global perspective, providing the energy transition and environmental policy communities with detailed information on current developments in market regulations, contractual arrangements, and technological responses, and clarifying ways to tackle natural gas flaring in the context of meeting climate change goals.

In the multifaceted approach provided by the book’s contributors—experts from a broad cross-section of gas-producing countries—the book engages with such issues and topics as the following:

• the technical aspects behind natural gas flaring;

• alternative solutions to mitigating natural gas flaring via carbon capture, utilization and storage;

• energy security imperatives;

• legal frameworks governing natural gas flaring, with case studies from key twenty leading oil and gas jurisdictions;

• best practices and potential solutions that can be adapted to different contexts;

• environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations;

• potential disputes arising from changing regulations and market conditions; and

• recommendations for design, application, and implementation of natural gas development and marketing.

Bringing together legal, policy, and regulatory perspectives from natural gas hubs, this work fills a significant gap in the existing literature with a rigorous exposition and comparative analysis of the business, legal, economic, and sustainability aspects of natural gas flaring and its role in the energy transition across global energy markets. It will prove to be of immeasurable value to policymakers, industry stakeholders, regulators, concerned nongovernmental organizations, and legal practitioners in sustainable development and international relations. It is sure to contribute to informed decision making and ultimately to more sustainable and equitable energy systems worldwide.