據美國油價網2021年12月15日報道，挪威著名能源研究和商業情報公司雷斯塔能源公司（Rystad）的一項分析結果顯示，今年第三季度，美國陸上天然氣放空燃燒量大幅下降，降至至少自2012年以來的最低水平。9月份天然氣放空燃燒量為3.8億- 3.9億立方英尺/天，比前一個月就下降了約24%。 由于以前只有大型運營商采用的最佳做法已蔓延到規模較小的獨立運營商，美國陸上天然氣放空燃燒量正在下降。  

造成這一急劇下降的主要原因是巴肯和二疊紀遠景區在9月份天然氣放空燃燒量分別減少了約5000萬立方英尺/天。 這一趨勢并不出人意料，但二疊紀盆地的減少速度比預期的要快。  

Rystad說，“雖然巴肯盆地的燃除量減少與我們的預期基本一致，但根據我們對衛星數據的分析，二疊紀盆地的變化速度令人驚訝。 Rystad頁巖氣研究主管Artem Abramov表示：“美國陸上天然氣放空燃燒量的全面下降是一個具體的跡象，表明最佳實踐正從大型生產商蔓延到小型私營運營商，而且在可預見的未來，這種趨勢可能會持續下去。”

私營企業對天然氣放空燃燒總量的貢獻已從2021年4月61.5%的創紀錄高位下降，截至9月為52.3%。 然而，這一比例明顯高于這些公司對天然氣總燃燒量的貢獻，9月份為24.8%。  

減少天然氣放空燃燒量是美國所有頁巖盆地的一個趨勢。今年第三季度，二疊紀盆地50家最大天然氣生產商的平均燃除強度為1.6%，而今年上半年和2020年分別為2.5%和3.2%。

今年9月，二疊紀盆地的井口天然氣燃除強度達到多年來的0.8%創紀錄低點。自2019年以來，二疊紀盆地的燃除強度穩步提高，與得克薩斯州南部鷹福特盆地的燃除強度下降密切相關，但滯后了5至6個月。鷹福特盆地運營商9月份的天然氣燃除強度僅為0.4%，但其今年上半年的天然氣燃除強度也接近1%。

巴肯地區的天然氣燃除強度仍然明顯高位于得克薩斯州和新墨西哥州的盆地。盡管如此，從2021年7月天然氣工廠維修季節的的10%下降了。 截至9月，巴肯地區放空燃燒的總天然氣量約占6.1%，天然氣燃燒強度基本上回到了今年初的多年低點。 然而，由于北達科他州的天然氣產量在今年大大超過了原油產量，9月份該州石油生產的天然氣燃除強度仍在每桶164立方英尺左右，比今年1月的紀錄水平高出約15%。

在二疊紀盆地，幾乎所有的主要作業地區或子盆地在第三季度都經歷了多年來的天然氣放空燃燒量下降。 例如，2019年第三季度，特拉華州東部次盆地的氣油比較低，燃除強度為5.7%，按絕對值計算相當于1.31億立方英尺/天的天然氣被燃除。今年第三季度，該次盆地的燃除強度降至1.1%，仍略高于整個盆地的平均水平1.0%，這意味著該次盆地僅燃燒了2600萬立方英尺/天的天然氣。特拉華州北部(新墨西哥州)和特拉華州西部的天然氣燃除強度仍然領先，今年第三季度達到0.7%，低于2018年第4季度的峰值4.9%和2017年第4季度的峰值5.7%。 特拉華州中北部是另一個主要的次盆地，第三季度的燃除強度平均低于1%，為0.9%。 中東部和二疊紀盆地其他地區第三季度的燃除強度分別為1.4%和1.5%。

李峻 編譯自 美國油價網

原文如下：

U.S. onshore Gas Flaring Falls To Lowest Level Since 2012

onshore gas flaring in the US nosedived in the third quarter of 2021, falling to its lowest level since at least 2012*, a Rystad Energy analysis shows. Flaring activity reached 380-390 million cubic feet per day (MMcfd) in September, a roughly 24% fall from the prior month alone. Flaring activity is tumbling as best practices that only major operators had previously adopted spread to smaller, independent players.

The most significant contributors to this steep decline were the Bakken and Permian plays, which saw reduced flaring of around 50 MMcfd each in September. This trend was not unexpected, but the Permian declined rate was more dramatic than anticipated.

“While the reduction in the Bakken was largely in line with expectations, based on our analysis of satellite data, the rate of change in the Permian is surprising. The decline in flaring activity across the board is a concrete sign that best practices are spreading beyond just large producers to small, privately-owned operators too, and this trend looks likely to continue in the foreseeable future,” says Artem Abramov, head of shale research at Rystad Energy.

The contribution of privately-owned players to gas flaring totals has declined from a record high of 61.5% in April 2021 and sits at 52.3% as of September. However, that rate is significantly greater than the same companies’ contributions to total gas output, which was 24.8% in September.

Declining gas flaring is a trend across the basins. The average flaring intensity across the 50 largest gas producers in the Permian was 1.6% in the third quarter of 2021, compared to 2.5% in the first half of 2021 and 3.2% in 2020.

The Permian’s wellhead flaring intensity hit a multi-year record low of 0.8% in September. The basin has demonstrated steady improvements in its flaring intensity since 2019, closely following the reduction in south Texas’ Eagle Ford, with a five-to-six-month lag. Eagle Ford operators flared only 0.4% of gas in September, but their flaring intensity in the first half of 2021 was also close to the 1% mark.

The Bakken region's intensity remains significantly higher than basins in Texas and New Mexico. Still, it has come down from an elevated level of 10% in July 2021 during the gas plant maintenance season. about 6.1% of gross gas was flared in the Bakken as of September, with gas-based flaring intensity levels essentially returning to previous multi-year lows recorded in early 2021. However, as gas production in North Dakota substantially outperformed the oil stream in 2021, flaring intensity on an oil production basis in the state was still at around 164 cubic feet per barrel in September, roughly 15% higher than the level recorded in January 2021.

Honing in on the Permian basin, nearly all major operating areas, or sub-basins, experienced multi-year flared gas volume lows in the third quarter. For instance, the low gas-to-oil ratio Delaware East sub-basin had a flaring intensity of 5.7% in the third quarter of 2019, the equivalent of 131 MMcfd of flared gas in absolute terms. In the third quarter of 2021, flaring intensity levels in the sub-basin declined to 1.1% -- still marginally higher than the basinwide average of 1.0% - meaning only 26 MMcfd of gas was flared in the sub-basin. Delaware North (New Mexico) and Delaware West still lead in terms of flaring intensity levels, reaching 0.7% in 2021’s third quarter, down from the peak of 4.9% in the fourth quarter of 2018 for Delaware North and 5.7% in the fourth quarter of 2017 for Delaware West. The Midland North is another major sub-basin that experienced flaring intensity level averages below 1% in the third quarter, coming in at 0.9%. The Midland East and the rest of Permian’s intensity was 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively, for the third quarter.

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