A new polyethylene production facility in the Bakken shale could soon help oil and gas producers in the region reduce natural gas flaring in North Dakota, the Bakken Update said this week. Significant amounts of natural gas are wasted during flaring; estimates by the non-profit sustainability organization CERES are that as much as 30 percent of all natural gas discovered in the state is flared. That comes out to more than $100 million a month of natural gas that is just burned off, according to a July 29, 2013 Reuters article. Because the new polyethylene plant will use liquid natural gas in the production process, it creates a local need for the product, thus reducing the amount of natural gas that is currently being flared due to a lack of infrastructure to move the gas to the market. The North Dakota Industrial Commission, the state’s regulating entity for oil […]