Climate change: Russia burns off gas as Europe's energy bills rocket
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent
Published 10 hours ago
As Europe's energy costs skyrocket, Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas, according to analysis shared with BBC News.
They say the plant, near the border with Finland, is burning an estimated $10m (£8.4m) worth of gas every day.
Experts say the gas would previously have been exported to Germany.
Germany's ambassador to the UK told BBC News that Russia was burning the gas because they couldn't sell it elsewhere."
Scientists are concerned about the large volumes of carbon dioxide and soot it is creating, which could exacerbate the melting of Arctic ice.
The analysis by Rystad Energy indicates that around 4.34 million cubic metres of gas are being burned by the flare every day.
It is coming from a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Portovaya, north-west of St Petersburg.
The first signs that something was awry came from Finnish citizens over the nearby border who spotted a large flame on the horizon earlier this summer.
Portovaya is located close to a compressor station at the start of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline which carries gas under the sea to Germany.
Supplies through the pipeline have been curtailed since mid-July, with the Russians blaming technical issues for the restriction. Germany says it was purely a political move following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But since June, researchers have noted a significant increase in heat emanating from the facility - thought to be from gas flaring, the burning of natural gas.
While burning off gas is common at processing plants - normally done for technical or safety reasons - the scale of this burn has confounded experts.
"I've never seen an LNG plant flare so much," said Dr Jessica McCarty, an expert on satellite data from Miami University in Ohio.
"Starting around June, we saw this huge peak, and it just didn't go away. It's stayed very anomalously high."
Miguel Berger, the German ambassador to the UK, told BBC News that European efforts to reduce reliance on Russian gas were "having a strong effect on the Russian economy".
"They don't have other places where they can sell their gas, so they have to burn it," he suggested.
Mark Davis is the CEO of Capterio, a company that is involved in finding solutions to gas flaring.
He says the flaring is not accidental and is more likely a deliberate decision made for operational reasons.
"Operators often are very hesitant to actually shut down facilities for fear that they may be technically difficult or costly to start up again, and it's probably the case here," he told BBC News.
Others believe that there could be technical challenges in dealing with the large volumes of gas that were being supplied to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Russian energy company Gazprom may have intended to use that gas to make LNG at the new plant, but may have had problems handling it and the safest option is to flare it off.
It could also be the result of Europe's trade embargo with Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62652133
By Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent
Published 10 hours ago
As Europe's energy costs skyrocket, Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas, according to analysis shared with BBC News.
They say the plant, near the border with Finland, is burning an estimated $10m (£8.4m) worth of gas every day.
Experts say the gas would previously have been exported to Germany.
Germany's ambassador to the UK told BBC News that Russia was burning the gas because they couldn't sell it elsewhere."
Scientists are concerned about the large volumes of carbon dioxide and soot it is creating, which could exacerbate the melting of Arctic ice.
The analysis by Rystad Energy indicates that around 4.34 million cubic metres of gas are being burned by the flare every day.
It is coming from a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at Portovaya, north-west of St Petersburg.
The first signs that something was awry came from Finnish citizens over the nearby border who spotted a large flame on the horizon earlier this summer.
Portovaya is located close to a compressor station at the start of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline which carries gas under the sea to Germany.
Supplies through the pipeline have been curtailed since mid-July, with the Russians blaming technical issues for the restriction. Germany says it was purely a political move following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But since June, researchers have noted a significant increase in heat emanating from the facility - thought to be from gas flaring, the burning of natural gas.
While burning off gas is common at processing plants - normally done for technical or safety reasons - the scale of this burn has confounded experts.
"I've never seen an LNG plant flare so much," said Dr Jessica McCarty, an expert on satellite data from Miami University in Ohio.
"Starting around June, we saw this huge peak, and it just didn't go away. It's stayed very anomalously high."
Miguel Berger, the German ambassador to the UK, told BBC News that European efforts to reduce reliance on Russian gas were "having a strong effect on the Russian economy".
"They don't have other places where they can sell their gas, so they have to burn it," he suggested.
Mark Davis is the CEO of Capterio, a company that is involved in finding solutions to gas flaring.
He says the flaring is not accidental and is more likely a deliberate decision made for operational reasons.
"Operators often are very hesitant to actually shut down facilities for fear that they may be technically difficult or costly to start up again, and it's probably the case here," he told BBC News.
Others believe that there could be technical challenges in dealing with the large volumes of gas that were being supplied to the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
Russian energy company Gazprom may have intended to use that gas to make LNG at the new plant, but may have had problems handling it and the safest option is to flare it off.
It could also be the result of Europe's trade embargo with Russia in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62652133
