Every day, domestic oil companies allow hundreds of millions of cubic feet of natural gas to go up in flames by burning off excess gas from shale oil wells that stretch from North Dakota to Texas – putting the U.S. into the top 10 gas flaring countries in the world alongside Russia, Nigeria and Iraq.
This practice is wasteful and polluting: the gas flared daily in North Dakota, about a third of the state’s production, represents enough energy to heat half a million homes. The extent of the flaring problem is so immense, you can actually see the gas burning from space.
It’s also unnecessary. The technology exists to capture this gas and get it to market, and several leading companies have made commitments to do so. Yet many others have avoided addressing the issue head on.
Ceres and its $11 trillion Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) are taking action to eliminate flaring from U.S. oil wells. Last year we wrote to 21 of the industry’s largest shale oil producers urging them to stop flaring in order to reduce environmental harm and economic risks.
Just this week, Ceres announced that INCR member Mercy Investment Services has filed a shareholder resolution with Continental Resources, the largest oil producer in North Dakota – the hotbed of flaring activity in the United States. The resolution calls on the company to end its wasteful flaring activity and sends an important message to the entire oil and gas industry.
