AOGCC receives petition on gas flaring

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

The Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission has received a petition for a hearing to bar all non-emergency venting and flaring and has scheduled a public hearing for Dec. 18 at 10 a.m. at its Anchorage offices.

The petition request came from Kate Troll who told the commission she collected signatures at the Rise for Climate Rally in Anchorage Sept. 8.

The petition asks the commission to prevent all non-emergency venting and flaring from Alaska oil and gas wells, noting that “methane is a potent greenhouse gas, roughly 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide.”

The commission’s existing policies, the petition says, call for minimizing waste, but “Stopping the venting and flaring of methane on the North Slope and Cook Inlet is considered to be the low-hanging fruit for Alaska to take a meaningful step in reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”

The commission revised its flaring regulations effective Jan. 1, 1995. “The goal of the flaring oversight program is the elimination of unnecessary flaring whenever possible,” the commission says on its website.

Under the revised regulations, operators must report all flaring events in excess of one hour. Those events are analyzed and investigated if necessary, the commission said, and operators may be penalized if it is determined waste has occurred.

The commission’s current regulations allow no gas release except for up to an hour for emergencies or operational upsets or for planned lease operations authorized for safety; to purge or test a safety flare system; and de minimus venting incidental to normal operations.

The regulations also say the commission can authorize flaring for more than an hour under specific circumstances.

Prior to the 1995 revisions the commission penalized facilities for exceeding set daily limits in flaring. - KRISTEN NELSON