Zero Flaring Objective

New practices, worldwide

In compliance with the Paris Agreement - limiting global warming to 1.5°C by the end of the century -, TotalEnergies has made serious commitments to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions generated by its activities. The Company is a founder member of the World Bank "Zero Routine Flaring by 2023" initiative, and is taking action to reduce flaring on its facilities.

But what exactly is flaring? Burning or flaring, involves using flares to burn off the excess gas produced by the oil & natural gas production process that cannot be valorized by current facilities (market, reservoirs, etc.). Not translated as not relevant to the English translation Why should we reduce flaring? Because it generates CO₂ and methane emissions into the atmosphere, two gases that contribute to global warming and which therefore threaten the Earth’s balance. 

Zero flaring objective

“There are two types of flaring: routing flaring and safety flaring,” specifies Damien Rouquet, Zero Flaring Objective lead at TotalEnergies. “We have pledged to totally eliminate routine (continuous) flaring on all our facilities by 2030. In 2025, it will have already been limited to 0.1 million standard m3/day”. 2023 was a year marked by the total elimination of flaring in Nigeria on the OML 100 field. The oil and gas effluent treatment scheme was modified to recover, transport and valorize the gas in the Bonny LNG unit. The affiliate has therefore become the first leading operator in Nigeria to totally eliminate routine flaring on all its operated assets. A similar approach was introduced in Denmark, where routine flaring was fully eliminated in July 2023, in compliance with new regulatory requirements.

Safety flaring reduced to a minimum

Unlike routing flaring, safety flaring cannot be totally eliminated. If a major event, such as a leak, occurs, it helps eliminate the gas within 15 to 20 minutes and prevent a serious accident and impacts on the environment. However, a new design  - the closed flare -  can now be used to maintain flare efficiency, but without a pilot, 365 days a year, if no incidents are detected.

They are installed as standard on new facilities, now equipped with flare gas recovery systems. Three platforms - Egina in Nigeria, Clov in Angola and Likouf in Congo - already have them, and a taskforce has been created to study and develop current platform designs.
 

80% reduction in methane emissions over ten years

Apart from its role in safety, flaring also has an environmental impact. Without flaring, significant quantities of methane - a gas with a global warming potential 30 to 80 times higher than CO₂, would be released. Unburned gases, including 2% methane still subsist, and are currently still discharged directly into the atmosphere. Eliminating these methane emissions is one of TotalEnergies’ priorities, and the Company has committed to reducing them by 80% in 2030 (vs. 2020). And how is it going to achieve this? By reducing flaring yet further by valorizing excess gas whenever possible. There are currently 12 closed torch retrofit projects under study, 4 of which have passed the investment decision. In 1 or 2 years' time, there will be more.