Exxon,
BP en andere oliemaatschappijen verbranden bij de winning van olie jaarlijks miljarden kubieke meters aan gas
zonder enig nut, niet zelden laat men het gas zelfs gaan zonder dit te verbranden (‘ventileren’), waarmee methaangas in grote hoeveelheden in de atmosfeer terechtkomt en daar meehelpt de klimaatverandering nog verder aan te jagen, daar methaangas één van de sterkste broeikasgassen op aarde is….. Ter verduidelijking: het verbranden van gas in de VS zonder enig nut, is gelijk aan de jaarlijkse uitstoot van 10 kolencentrales of 8 miljoen auto’s……….
Je staat
telkens weer versteld van de brutaliteit die oliemaatschappijen aan
de dag leggen. De een heeft nog een vromer duurzaam praatje dan de ander,
maar vervuilen blijven ze en dat op gigantische schaal, dag in dag
uit 365 dagen per jaar…. Gelukkig komt dit soort misdadig gedrag
bijna altijd aan het licht, althans in de huidige tijd waarbij we meerdere organisaties hebben als Greenpeace, plus de maatschappelijke aandacht voor de klimaatverandering en luchtvervuiling, daarbij zijn er veel mensen met nog wel enig verantwoordingsgevoel zoals klokkenluiders die zaken aan het licht brengen……
De
hoogste tijd dat de oliemaatschappijen voor het gerecht worden gesleept, men wist al lang dat de klimaatverandering werd aangejaagd
door de verbranding van fossiele brandstoffen en door dat daarna te ontkennen zijn bijvoorbeeld Shell en Exxon (die dat zelf onderzochten en hebben toegegeven), niet alleen schuldig aan het verder aanjagen van de klimaatverandering, maar zelfs schuldig aan moord op grote schaal en grote schade aan natuur, huizen en infrastructuur….*
Tot slot nog dit, het gaat in het artikel hieronder zoals gezegd om de situatie in de VS, maar vergeet niet dat ook elders in de wereld grote hoeveelheden gas worden afgefakkeld, ook door een bedrijf als koninklijke Shell……
Exxon
and BP among worst for flaring in US oil fields despite green pledges
An
analysis of official industry data by Unearthed reveals the companies
most responsible for the massive emissions created by burning
unwanted gas
ExxonMobil
and BP are among the worst culprits for wastefully burning off
natural gas in the United States’ top oil fields, despite
presenting themselves as leaders in tackling the
problem, Unearthed can
reveal.
The
oil giants have both committed to drastically rein in flaring –
where gas is burned with no economic benefit – as a key part of
their response to the climate crisis.
But
a major new investigation by Unearthed, based on official
industry data, has found that they are among the worst
performers when it comes to minimising emissions from their
operations in one or more of the United States’ “Big Three” oil
fields.
Independent
fracking firms, Marathon Oil, Whiting Petroleum and Hess Corporation
are also disposing of unprecedented volumes of natural gas, either by
releasing it directly into the atmosphere or burning it off –
practices called venting and flaring.
In
recent years a surge in oil production has lit up the skies across
Texas, New Mexico and North Dakota as companies burn off billions of
cubic feet of natural gas.
Now,
for the first time, Unearthed can reveal the scale
of this waste and the oil companies most culpable for the enormous
greenhouse gas emissions created by venting and flaring in America’s
biggest oil fields.
Together,
the Eagle Ford basin in Texas; the Permian basin in Texas and New
Mexico and the Bakken formation in North Dakota, accounted for 57% of
US oil production in 2018.
But
they also harbour billions of cubic feet of natural gas and oil
companies often find it easier and cheaper to dispose of it into the
atmosphere than capture and transport it to where it can be sold and
used to generate energy.
Unearthed can
reveal that over a period of just 12 months, companies operating in
these oil fields have vented or flared 369 billion cubic feet of
natural gas, roughly equivalent to the annual emissions of 10
coal-fired power stations or 8 million cars.
This
is particularly problematic because the Permian is set to be
the focal
point of a boom in
global oil production over the next decade.
The
investigation, based on official industry data provided by Rystad
Energy, also found:
-
ExxonMobil
has vented or flared more gas than any other company operating in
the three oil fields since 2011, despite not being the largest gas
producer -
Permian
drilling operations acquired by BP in a $10.5 billion deal last year
already ranked among the worst in the basin for the proportion of
gas vented or flared, but performance has declined further under the
British oil major -
Fracking
giant Marathon Oil vented or flared more gas than any other company
across the “Big Three” in the 12 months up to the end of March
2019, including 52% of the gas it produced in the Bakken
Gas
flared or vented in the United States’ “Big Three” oil
fields, 2011-2018
Total amount of natural
gas burned or released from oil and gas operations in millions of
cubic feet
Responding
to the investigation, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse [D-RI]
told Unearthed that the findings appear to
contradict the claims of the US oil industry’s most powerful lobby
group: “These are troubling findings, which belie the American
Petroleum Institute’s seven-figure ad campaign claiming the
industry is working to reduce carbon pollution.”
“Industry
claims to support methane regulation look like greenwashing; old bad
habits from an industry that spent decades trying to deceive the
public about climate change,” he continued.
Why
waste gas?
Even
though natural gas is big business in the United States, low prices
have led companies in the “Big Three” oil basins to dispose of
billions of cubic feet of it into the atmosphere.
This
is because the companies are targeting the enormous reserves of oil
rather than gas, which is present in smaller volumes. And while oil
can be loaded onto trucks and driven to a refinery, gas can only be
transported via pipeline.
The
costs of capturing gas; purchasing access to pipelines or building
new ones; and then paying state taxes on the proceeds, can often
outweigh the economic benefits, leading companies to release it
directly into the atmosphere (venting) or burn it off (flaring)
instead. Venting is more damaging than flaring because methane is 84
times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide in the
first two decades following its release.
Industry
leaders
As
pressure on oil companies to demonstrate that they are
taking climate change seriously has intensified, ExxonMobil and BP
have increasingly sought to portray themselves as industry leaders in
reducing emissions from their oil drilling operations.
Both
companies are members of the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI),
a leading trade association, which held high profile events during
the recent UN Climate Week in New York, celebrating the achievements
of its members in reducing methane emissions.
Tackling
venting and flaring are central to OGCI members’ joint
strategy for
how they will contribute to reducing global emissions in line with
the Paris climate change agreement.
As
a result, Exxon and BP have also made individual pledges. Last year
Exxon said it would reduce its greenhouse
gas emissions by
cutting flaring by 25% within two years, adding to a previous
commitment to eliminate routine flaring entirely by 2030.
BP
has likewise committed to eliminate routine flaring and regularly
publicises initiatives
tackling methane emissions from its operations. Its chief executive,
Bob Dudley, recently
said that
the level of flaring in the Permian is “not right.”
But Unearthed can
reveal that both companies are failing when it comes to bringing the
emissions from some of their US oil operations under control.
Since
2011, ExxonMobil has vented or flared 99 billion cubic feet of gas,
more than any other company operating in the Permian, Eagle Ford and
Bakken oil fields, despite the fact it was not the largest producer
of gas.
In
the 12 months between April 2018 and March 2019 alone, Exxon vented
or flared 12 billion cubic feet of gas in the Permian, more than any
other company.
And
despite its commitment to reduce its overall flaring by 25% by 2020,
between 2017 and 2018 Exxon’s venting and flaring in the “Big
Three” oil basins actually increased by 70%, even though gas
production rose by only 15%.
Worst companies for
venting and flaring by total volume across all three basins,
2011-2018 (see original)
Artem
Abramov, partner and head of shale research at Rystad Energy,
told Unearthed:
“In the Permian specifically, Exxon were stepping up, in terms of
activity and production, very aggressively last year. We saw that a
lot of these new developments were happening in more remote areas
without developed infrastructure.”
He
added that Exxon’s drilling program often outpaced the development
of infrastructure to take the gas away: “There were some delays and
then they had to flare gas for extended periods of time… two to
three months wouldn’t be too rare I would say.”
- An
ExxonMobil spokeswoman told Unearthed: “Flaring is
an important issue we take very seriously. We have made great
progress in reducing flaring by working with third-party gas
gathering systems, accelerating installation of gas facilities,
improving facility reliability and curtailing production when
appropriate. The company is in full compliance with state and federal
flaring regulations and makes every effort possible to exceed those
standards.”
“In
the examples you cite, flaring is done for safety reasons or because
the gas cannot be used due to barriers to the development of gas
markets and gas infrastructure,” she continued.
Zie voor
de rest van dit artikel het origineel.
=====================================
* Zie: ‘De klimaatcrisis was te voorkomen: laat de grote vervuilers als Shell en Exxon betalen‘
Zie ook:
‘BP fakkelt grote hoeveelheid gas af in Gelsenkirchen: ‘technische storing”
‘Klimaattop Madrid: de grote vervuilers hebben veel te veel invloed‘
‘Milieugroepen buitengesloten van klimaattop Madrid‘
‘IETA, lobbygroep van oliemaatschappijen en andere grote vervuilers, manipuleert klimaattoppen‘
‘Shell houdt zich niet aan het klimaatakkoord: 8 bewijzen‘
‘Herbebossing tegen de klimaatverandering is grotendeels een sprookje‘
‘ING blij met nieuwe oliewinning voor de kust van Guyana, ‘uiterst duurzaam…’‘
Stikstof, het woord dat niet in de Miljoenennota staat: verbazing alom‘
‘Bossen in Duitsland: nog maar 28% van de bomen is gezond, de rest is ten dode opgeschreven…..‘
‘Stikstofadvies Commissie Remkes onbehoorlijk en hypocriet‘
‘Waarom komt commissie Remkes met haar aanbevelingen na Prinsjesdag‘
‘Vliegtaks wassen neus bedoelt om het volk te overtuigen van ‘kabinetsinzet op duurzaamheid’‘
‘Warm weer? De hoeveelheid CO2 in onze atmosfeer ligt op een niveau van voor 800.000 jaar geleden….‘
‘Pechtold wil weten wanneer de eerste kolencentrale sluit…….. ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!‘
‘‘Brekend nieuws’: Rutte (VVD premier) stelt bedrijfsleven gerust wat betreft de energietransitie‘
‘Klimaatakkoord: nogmaals krijgt de bevolking een reuzenoor aangenaaid‘
‘Land- en tuinbouw krijgen subsidie voor energietransitie, waar de burgers dubbel moeten betalen…….‘
‘Klimaatakkoord en kilometerheffing: één-tweetje ANWB en Rutte 3‘
‘‘Klimaatakkoord’, niet de grote vervuilers maar gezinnen betalen de energietransitie‘
‘Klimaatakkoord en Rutte’s belofte over de CO2 heffing >> Kees Boonman geeft toe veel te verzinnen‘
‘Jan Kees Emmer (Telegraaf): Amsterdam emissieloos is voor ‘milieudrammers’‘
‘Kamp torpedeert energieakkoord‘
‘Kamp en de vrijstelling van kolenbelasting‘
(mijn excuus voor de vormgeving, kreeg e.e.a. niet op tijd in orde)
Nogmaals mijn excuus de kop had uiteraard moeten luiden: ‘Exxon en BP verbranden zonder enig nut jaarlijks miljarden kubieke meters aan gas’. Na plaatsing hersteld.