Reducing the volume of gas burnt off in flare stacks

The combustion of natural gas in the course of developing gas deposits is an area where measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, steps are taken to reduce the volume of gas burnt off in flare stacks. They involve planning and performing formation tests in such a manner as to minimise their duration necessary to properly and reliably carry out the work to obtain reliable formation test results required to decide on the use of wells and determine their optimum operating conditions. This helps reduce the volume of gas burnt off in flare stacks in the short-term (on a single well) and also contributes to long-term improvement. In addition, an LPG compressor was installed at the Górzyca Gas Collection Facility, which eliminated the need to flare gas coming from the separation unit. Maintenance work requiring removal of gas from process units is carried out only during scheduled maintenance shutdowns of the gas production facilities, which translates into more efficient management of air emissions. It should be noted that the Lubiatów Oil and Gas Production Facility operates a vapour recovery unit (VRU) and an acid gas treatment unit (Sulfinol), which help reduce the volume of flared gas.

The following measures are planned to be implemented in the future to further reduce gas flaring emissions:

• Optimisation of various processes to reduce the volume of flared gas,
• Transporting natural gas from the Chałupczyn-1 well to the Radoszyn Oil and Gas Production Facility and using it for power generation.
• Replacing gas-powered pneumatic motors with electric or instrument air-powered pneumatic motors.
• Replacing natural gas with nitrogen as purge gas for compressor gas seals.

• Use of excess gas for crude oil production enhancement.
• Use of airtight technological processes to reduce the volume of flared gas.
• Development of new hydrocarbon deposits using technological processes that eliminate or reduce the need to flare gas.