Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
8.7 (a) Global natural gas production, 1900-2005 (Smil
1994; data from BP 2006). (b) Major locations of natural gas
flaring (data from Mouton 2005).
techniques enhance these rates (Baviere 1991; Carcoana
1992; Lakatos 2001). Water flooding or gas injection lift
5%-10% more oil, steam drive can recover 30%-60%
more, CO
2
flooding 20%-30%, and surfactant flooding
15%-40%.
Before WW II associated natural gas was mostly flared.
The postwar expansion of petrochemical industries and
the rising household and industrial demand for clean
fuel pushed natural gas consumption from about 200
Gm
3
2005, but this rise was accompanied by further absolute
increases in gas flaring (fig. 8.7). By 1975 about 170
Gm
3
/year were flared, equal to 14% of total production.
Subsequent reduction brought the total to just over 100
Gm
3
, equal to about 4% of global extraction in 2005 or
to half of Russia's gas exports (Mouton 2005). The lead-
ing wasters are Nigeria (nearly 20 Gm
3
/year), Iraq,
Russia, Iran, and Algeria, and the major sites of these
flarings stand out on the night-time satellite images as
the brightest spots on the Earth's surface.
in 1950 to 1.2 Tm
3
by 1975 and 2.7 Tm
3
in
