North Dakota flared 17% of its natural gas output in September, the highest percentage of flared gas since September 2015, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its latest "Natural Gas Weekly Update" released Nov. 30. This represented a 3% increase in flared volumes from a month earlier and occurred despite a 3% decline in gas production for the month.

More than 90% of the natural gas flared came from the Bakken formation, according to the EIA. The uptick in flaring in September was partly attributed to six force-majeure events, including one-time situations, such as offline compressors at one plant, a pipeline shutdown and road restrictions that prevented the transportation of liquids.

Flared volumes of natural gas in North Dakota have steadily increased annually from 2011 to 2014, with its percentage share for a month reaching as high as 36% in January 2014 as the state's oil production expanded, the EIA said. Flared volumes of gas dropped 18% to 292 MMcf/d in 2015 and tumbled 34% to 192 MMcf/d in 2016 before retracing higher to climb 22% year over year in the first nine months of 2017 to 223 MMcf/d. Marketed production of natural gas in North Dakota in first nine months of 2017 was about 5% higher year on year at 1,534 MMcf/d.
"Natural gas flaring frequently occurs at oil-rich production sites with associated natural gas deposits and at natural gas processing plants," the EIA said. "For a limited time, flaring provides a means for handling the associated natural gas, especially when processing and transportation capacities are unavailable."
In an effort to reduce gas flaring, the North Dakota Industrial Commission in 2015 began to set natural-gas capture goals for each operator, namely: 85% of the gas captured from Nov. 1, 2016, through Oct. 31, 2018, 88% captured from Nov. 1, 2018, through Oct. 31, 2020, and 91% beginning Nov. 1, 2020. In compliance with the gas capture standards, gas processing and pipeline capacity has been built, while additional investments are being made to improve infrastructure in the state.
