Part III: Flare Reduction Project Family - IPIECA

Section 7. Flare Reduction Project Family
Table 7-2. World Bank Estimated Top Twenty Gas Flaring Countries
Flared Volume, 10 9 cubic meters Approximate CO 2 Emissions
Rank* Country 2005 2006 2007
from Flaring (10 6
tonnes/year) for 2006 **
1 Russia 55.2 48.8 50.0 116.4
2 Nigeria 21.3 19.3 16.8 46.0
3 Iran 1.3 12.1 10.6 28.9
4 Iraq 7.1 7.4 7.0 17.7
5 Kazakhstan 5.8 6.0 5.3 14.3
6 Algeria 5.2 6.2 5.2 14.8
7 Libya 4.4 4.3 3.7 10.3
8 Angola 4.6 4.0 3.5 9.5
9 Saudi Arabia 3.0 3.3 3.4 7.9
10 Qatar 2.7 2.8 2.9 6.7
11 China 2.8 2.8 2.5 6.7
12 Indonesia 2.7 3.0 2.4 7.2
13 Kuwait 2.5 2.5 2.1 6.0
14 Venezuela 2.1 2.0 2.1 4.8
15 Uzbekistan 2.5 2.8 2.0 6.7
16 United States 2.0 1.9 1.9 4.5
17 Oman 2.5 2.2 1.9 5.2
18 Mexico 0.9 1.2 1.7 2.9
19 Malaysia 1.7 1.8 1.7 4.3
20 Gabon 2.2 1.9 1.6 4.5
Total for the Top 20
Countries
142 136 128 325.2
Global Flaring Level 162 157 147 374.5
* Rankings shown are based on 2007 data.
** CO 2 emissions have been estimated using the API Compendium default natural gas higher heating value of 1235 Btu/ft 3 (raw,
unprocessed gas) (Compendium Table 3-8) and the emission factor of 0.0547 tonnes CO 2 /MMBtu for flared natural gas
(Compendium Table 4-3).
Source: http://go.worldbank.org/G2OAW2DKZ0
The World Bank’s worldwide flared gas estimate for 2006 is 60×10 9 m 3 (2.1×10 12 ft 3 ) higher
than that provided by EIA, resulting in an additional 143×10 6 tonnes of CO 2 emissions. The
World Bank’s flare estimate for the U.S. based on satellite data is only about one-half of the
corresponding EIA estimate. The likely explanation for this discrepancy is that the EIA data for
the U.S. are known to include vented volumes, which would not be detected by the satellite
measurements. The countries included in the top 20 also differ between the two lists, indicating
some important data gaps in the EIA information.
7.3 Project Definition
Flare reduction projects impact the natural gas and oil value chain. As illustrated in Figure 7-1,
this chain consists of production and processing; refining; transport, storage, and distribution.
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