WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- Natural gas is a bridge fuel to a low-carbon economy so it's unfortunate companies are burning it off at the wellhead, a World Bank spokesman said Friday.
Lawmakers in Washington this week called on Interior Secretary Sally Jewel to review federal policies on so-called flared gas, pointing to a report from the Government Accountability Office finding federal standards are behind the curve.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the World Bank Group and European energy leaders, from Royal Dutch Shell to Norwegian company Statoil, endorsed a plan to eliminate routine flaring no later than 2030.
Some energy companies burn off, or flare, natural gas associated with other deposits because of the lack of infrastructure needed to utilize the resource.
Zubin Bamji, an energy and extractives industry spokesman for the World Bank, said in an interview the technical, economic and regulatory obstacles to reducing flaring must be overcome in the spirit of responsible resource management.
"Gas flaring is a wasteful industry practice that deserves more attention," he said. "Governments and oil companies need to work together to identify solutions, whether technical, regulatory, financial, or a combination of all."
The World Bank said flaring adds to the amount of potent greenhouse gas emitted into the atmosphere. It's also wasting a valuable source of energy, which, if captured, the bank said could provide more electricity than the entire African continent currently consumes.
Secretary Jewell said that, while the federal government will do its part, some of the responsibility lies with industry and state leaders.
North Dakota, a state at the heart of the shale oil boom in the United States, requires operators to capture at least 77 percent of the natural gas associated with oil deposits in the state rather than burn it off.
Whiting Petroleum, which holds key assets in North Dakota, said in its first quarter 2015 report it's capturing more than 85 percent of the associated gas in the state.
"Working together, many countries and companies have shown that flaring can be reduced and even eliminated," Bamji said. "Time and again we have seen that when industry sets a target and aligns its efforts with government, the results can be astonishing in scale and dimension."
There are no U.S. energy companies party to the joint U.N.-World Bank gas flaring initiative.
