Getting a permit to burn excess natural gas at Texas oil wells is getting a little bit harder.
Texas Railroad Commissioners limited an oil driller to flaring gas for just 1 year as opposed to the 2 years it sought at a meeting on 14 September. The commission approved 31 other requests from oil and gas companies, including five more to flare gas, without any changes.
Commissioner Jim Wright said a well not having pipeline service is no longer a good enough reason to flare, the industry practice of burning off natural gas produced as a byproduct of drilling for oil. The comments mark a shift in thinking at the agency, which has been widely criticized for rubber stamping thousands of flaring permits without requiring oil companies to come up with a plan to curb the practice.