Gas flaring complicates US Bakken oil boom

Damaging and disruptive, gas flaring is bad for the environment and for companies, yet it's on the rise in North Dakota

Gas flaring is a scourge. It is damaging to the environment, disruptive to local communities and for companies it is the equivalent to burning cash. Yet in the booming Bakken shale oilfield in the US state of North Dakota, gas flaring is on the rise and there is no easy fix for the problem. The amount of gas flared from January through July this year was up by nearly a quarter over the same period in 2012, averaging 280 million cubic feet a day (cf/d). North Dakota's producers have flared 32% of total natural gas produced this year. That is a modest improvement from 36% over the same period last year, but surging natural gas production means that the total amount of gas flared has also risen