Fuel subsidies, international sanctions and fractious politics are among the reasons the Middle East continues to flare more gas than any other region except Russia.
The practice wastes resources and contributes to air pollution and global warming.
A study by General Electric (GE) shows Middle East oil and gas producers pumped 87 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2008 by burning 34.6 billion cubic metres of gas. Most of that was a by-product of crude production from the region's oilfields.
"Flaring levels in the Middle East region remain relatively high," the report said. "The largest volumes of gas flaring occur in Iran and Iraq. However, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and other parts of the region have flaring issues."
Of the world's top nine gas-flaring nations, five are from the Middle East and North Africa region. Iran is in third place and Iraq fourth, behind Russia and Nigeria. Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the sixth, eighth and ninth worst offenders, respectively.
"Gas flaring is one of the most challenging energy and environmental problems facing the world today," said GE.
The amount burnt is equal to 5 per cent of global natural gas production, or 2.4 million barrels a day of oil.
The 400 million tonnes a year of carbon emissions that result equal the amount of carbon dioxide from the exhausts of 77 million petrol-fuelled cars or 125 medium-sized coal plants.
Gas flaring is not a difficult problem to tackle.
"The technology to address the problem exists today and the policy reforms required are largely understood," GE said. "Many constructive efforts to reduce flaring are under way, yet on the current path, it will likely take a decade or more to minimise this wasteful practice.
"Governments with non-transparent policies and weak environmental regulations are particularly likely to flare large amounts of gas. The problem is exacerbated through policy distortions related to subsidised hydrocarbon and electricity pricing."
Subsidies contribute heavily to flaring in Gulf oil states, which are mostly not short of oil and gas expertise or infrastructure for processing and transporting gas produced from their oilfields.
But very low domestic gas prices, often below US$1 per million British thermal units, mean at smaller or isolated fields where gathering and processing costs are higher than average it is often more economical to flare gas.
In Iran, the problems caused by mandated low gas prices are compounded by international sanctions on the country over its nuclear programme. Both contribute to huge underinvestment in gas infrastructure.
"The country is in the process of expanding pipeline infrastructure to better connect isolated locations," GE reported. "However, until the issues around Iran's nuclear programme are resolved, access to advanced gas technology will likely be limited."
Iraq has a similar pricing issue compounded by a wartime legacy of ruined infrastructure.
"After the [two Gulf Wars], damage to gas-processing sites in the south was extensive and remains unaddressed," GE said. "Gas-processing capacity is limited at key sites where oil production exists and is expected to grow rapidly."
It estimated that by 2015, Iraq could flare 20 billion cu metres of gas a year.
In 2008, Shell proposed a $4bn (Dh14.69bn) project to process and market gas from Iraq's big southern oilfields.
But the deal was opposed by politicians who complained it lacked transparency and objected to plans to export some of the gas. A contract for the much-delayed project has still not been signed.
Yet GE says such a deal is essential: "If Iraq fails to synchronise oil and gasfield development with viable options for associated gas, the flaring problem … can be expected to expand significantly.
"The result will be enormous direct costs in terms of wasted resources and corresponding social and environmental costs."
Some other countries in the region have taken concrete steps to tackle gas flaring. In the UAE, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the nation's biggest oil and gas producer, aims for zero flaring except in emergencies.
In Saudi Arabia, the kingdom's master gas system project, which started operating in 1982, gathers almost 100 billion cubic metres of gas a year, of which about half would otherwise be flared.
"The success achieved by Saudi Arabia is one example in the long journey for the Middle East region towards managing gas flaring more effectively," said Joe Anis, the president and chief executive of GE's Middle East energy unit.
"Eliminating wasteful gas flaring has the potential to be the next big energy and environmental success story, and through better management the region can benefit not only from direct cost in terms of resource use but also in social and environmental costs."
The Middle East's total annual carbon emissions from flaring fell 11 per cent to 87 million tonnes in 2008 from 98 million tonnes four years earlier, even as oil and gas production increased.
The GE study recommended strengthening international commitments to eradicate flaring, involving local communities in anti-flaring projects and enhancing access to financing for gas pipeline, processing and storage projects.
tcarlisle@thenational
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
What is Bitcoin?
Bitcoin is the most popular virtual currency in the world. It was created in 2009 as a new way of paying for things that would not be subject to central banks that are capable of devaluing currency. A Bitcoin itself is essentially a line of computer code. It's signed digitally when it goes from one owner to another. There are sustainability concerns around the cryptocurrency, which stem from the process of "mining" that is central to its existence.
The "miners" use computers to make complex calculations that verify transactions in Bitcoin. This uses a tremendous amount of energy via computers and server farms all over the world, which has given rise to concerns about the amount of fossil fuel-dependent electricity used to power the computers.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Marital status: Single
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Pakistan T20 series squad
Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Ahmed Shahzad, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Mohammed Hafeez, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Mohammed Nawaz, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Amir Yamin, Mohammed Amir (subject to fitness clearance), Rumman Raees, Usman Shinwari, Umar Amin
Section 375
Cast: Akshaye Khanna, Richa Chadha, Meera Chopra & Rahul Bhat
Director: Ajay Bahl
Producers: Kumar Mangat Pathak, Abhishek Pathak & SCIPL
Rating: 3.5/5
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20myZoi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Syed%20Ali%2C%20Christian%20Buchholz%2C%20Shanawaz%20Rouf%2C%20Arsalan%20Siddiqui%2C%20Nabid%20Hassan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2037%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Initial%20undisclosed%20funding%20from%20SC%20Ventures%3B%20second%20round%20of%20funding%20totalling%20%2414%20million%20from%20a%20consortium%20of%20SBI%2C%20a%20Japanese%20VC%20firm%2C%20and%20SC%20Venture%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
If you go...
Fly from Dubai or Abu Dhabi to Chiang Mai in Thailand, via Bangkok, before taking a five-hour bus ride across the Laos border to Huay Xai. The land border crossing at Huay Xai is a well-trodden route, meaning entry is swift, though travellers should be aware of visa requirements for both countries.
Flights from Dubai start at Dh4,000 return with Emirates, while Etihad flights from Abu Dhabi start at Dh2,000. Local buses can be booked in Chiang Mai from around Dh50
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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Pathaan
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Siddharth%20Anand%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shah%20Rukh%20Khan%2C%20Deepika%20Padukone%2C%20John%20Abraham%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Messi 23' pen, 45 1', 48', Busquets 85')
Celta Vigo 1 (Olaza 42')
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
