Recently released data from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) shows a plummet in the number of total venting and flaring exceptions requested and issued statewide by the agency.
Source: Railroad Commission of Texas
Flaring is allowed in Texas under the RRC Statewide Rule 32 (SWR 32) in certain situations. SWR 32 delineates flaring options for operators to utilize when flaring is necessary, including exempt releases, releases authorized by rule, and released authorized by exception (permit). You can learn more about flaring from the Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition HERE.
These numbers are possible because of commitment by operators to environmental sustainability, including advanced technologies that mitigate venting and flaring, developing improvements to industry best practices, greater takeaway capacity, and common-sense efforts by state regulators. Along with this drop in exception requests, actual flaring volumes in Texas has also decreased substantially over the past two years.
The Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition is excited to see this continued progress of reducing flaring and methane emissions, while operators in Texas continue to produce the oil and natural gas that the entire world depends on daily.
