据世界石油2020年7月21日华盛顿报道，根据世界银行，来自卫星数据的估计数字显示，全球去年天然气放空烧掉量增加到了过去10多年来没有看到的水平，达到了1500亿立方米，相当于撒哈拉以南非洲地区的天然气年消费总量。
天然气放空烧掉——即放空烧掉在开采石油时伴生的天然气——是由于技术、监管和/或经济方面的限制而发生的。天然气放空烧掉量每年造成相当于4亿吨二氧化碳的排放，并浪费一种宝贵的资源，未燃烧的甲烷和黑碳排放对环境造成有害影响。
世界银行能源与开采全球业务部门业务经理克里斯托弗·谢尔登说：“我们的数据表明，天然气放空烧掉仍是一个持续存在的问题，在某些国家里，解决方案仍然很困难，或者不经济。当前的COVID-19大流行和危机带来了额外的挑战，可持续发展和气候忧虑可能被边缘化。我们必须扭转这一令人担忧的趋势，一劳永逸地结束常规天然气放空烧掉。”
全球前4大天然气放空烧掉的国家连续3年(2017-2019年)继续占全球天然气放空烧掉量的近一半(45%)。在所有产油国中，除前4个国家外，天然气放空烧掉量从2012年到2019年下降了90亿立方米(或10%)。今年第一季度，全球天然气放空烧掉量下降了10%，在全球30个天然气放空烧掉量最大的国家中大多数都出现了下降。
李峻 编译自 世界石油
原文如下：
World Bank: Global gas flaring at its highest since 2009
According to the World Bank, estimates from satellite data show global gas flaring increased to levels not seen in more than a decade, to 150 billion cubic meters, equivalent to the total annual gas consumption of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Gas flaring, the burning of natural gas associated with oil extraction, takes place because of technical, regulatory, and/or economic constraints. It results in more than 400 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions every year and wastes a valuable resource, with harmful impacts to the environment from un-combusted methane and black carbon emissions.
“Our data suggests that gas flaring continues to be a persistent problem, with solutions remaining difficult or uneconomic in certain countries,” said Christopher Sheldon, Practice Manager in the Energy & Extractives Global Practice, World Bank. “The current COVID-19 pandemic and crisis brings additional challenges, with sustainability and climate concerns potentially sidelined. We must reverse this worrying trend and end routine gas flaring once and for all.”
The top four gas flaring countries continue to account for almost half (45%) of all global gas flaring, for three years running (2017-2019). When looking at all oil-producing countries, excluding the top four, gas flaring declined by 9 bcm (or 10%) from 2012 to 2019. In the first quarter of 2020, global gas flaring fell by 10%, with declines across most of the top 30 gas flaring countries.
