Assessing the magnitude of multi-site flaring events attributed to supply chain disruptions in oil and gas production basins

Flaring in oil and gas production is used to combust flammable hydrocarbons that otherwise would be vented to the atmosphere. One potential cause of flaring is intermittent disruptions in gas supply chains between oil and gas production sites and gathering and boosting operations. Since gathering and boosting facilities serve multiple production facilities, these types of supply chain disruptions would be expected to cause simultaneous flaring at multiple upstream sites in the regions served by a gathering and boosting facility experiencing a disruption, unless production sites are able to use other gathering and boosting facilities or the production sites immediately shut-in production. To assess the potential magnitude of this type of event, the overall frequency of multiple flares being detected in a localized area (<5 km radius from another flare) was assessed using spatiotemporal patterns in satellite based daily flare detections using the VIIRS Nightfire (VNF) product. Multiple detections in a localized area are unlikely if flaring is caused by independent conditions at individual sites. In contrast, multi-site detections in a localized area may be indicative of potential supply chain disruptions. Hundreds of flares in the Eagle Ford production region in south central Texas that are detected infrequently (<18% observations) were evaluated. For these infrequently detected flares, which account for approximately half of flared gases in the region, 87% had 80-100% of their detections classified as multi-site events. This suggests that efforts to reduce flaring should consider impacts of supply chain disruptions.