A coalition of Texas oil industry groups is pledging to end routine flaring of natural gas from wells and other facilities by 2030 amid signs that state regulators may crack down on the controversial practice. The Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition, formed in 2019, “supports industry’s continued progress to end routine flaring and shares a goal of ending this practice by 2030,” the group said Wednesday in a statement. Routine flaring is industry jargon for burning off excess gas when it isn’t necessitated by pipeline malfunctions or other short-term events.
Flaring has come under increasing scrutiny amid growing concern about emissions and their contribution to climate change. The coalition’s announcement comes as the Texas Railroad Commission, the state’s primary regulator of the oil and gas industry, signaled it may move to impose more limits on the practice after years of granting easy-to-obtain flaring permits. A recent report by Rystad Energy found that 40% of future flaring could be avoided at no cost to oil companies.