Addressing the Russian parliament last week (12 November), President Dmitry Medvedev highlighted the flaring of gas extracted alongside oil as one of the most glaring examples of ineffective use of energy resources.
"This pollutes the environment and sends tens of billions of roubles up in smoke," Medvedev said, according to the Kremlin website.
"The government has discussed the issue on many occasions and has promised to put an end to this disgrace. We really do need to take fast and decisive action, and no objections from the production companies should be accepted," he added.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin swiftly followed on from the president by explaining that due to inadequate infrastructure, up to 20 billion cubic metres of associated gas is flared every year in Western Siberia alone. But this concerns mainly "old" gas fields, he said, describing the problem as less acute in Eastern Siberia.
"On Tuesday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin ordered oil companies to use up to 95% of their associated gas" - a by-product of oil production - by 2012, the Moscow Times wrote, quoting Putin as describing state-controlled Rosneft as "the worst offender".
The Russian press wrote that at present, only 25% of the country's associated gas is used, with the remainder being flared.
The volume of gas flared in Russia (20 billion cubic metres per year) amounts to almost one third of the projected annual capacity of the South Stream pipeline project, which is 63 billion cubic meters per year. In comparison, the projected capacity of the rival Nabucco pipeline is 30 bcm/year.
A recent report by a specialised NGO indicates that oil companies could achieve cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of between 10.5% and 15.5% through reduced gas flaring and venting, energy efficiency improvements and fuel switching in refineries (EurActv 30/04/09).
