The future might bring more and more natural gas; we might never run out.
“”In regards to liquid natural gas exports, our future generations will need all of the natural gas and other energy products that we could keep and more.””
While I don’t disagree with that statement at this point and time we have two choices, export or flare it. If you want the oil you have to get your gas off of it, this helps push the oil through the formation. The infrastructure for all these new completions is not on line yet so flaring is the only option in some cases. Another side of this especially in the Permian Basin is we’re suffering from over production due to storage space. We’ve maxed out out pipelines and refinery’s and many producers are having to pay a storage fee to hold oil until it can be put into the lines, that fee can run up to 15 dollars a barrel before it finally hits the lines. We are in desperate need of more inland refineries and the pipelines needed to tie it all together. Much of the gas we’re running in our vehicles here in West Texas is actually pumped from West Texas down to the Gulf Coast, refined and then pumped back to various hubs. Regional refineries would eliminate all that unnecessary cost and travel. My oil leaves the ranch here in the Basin and goes to Artesia New Mexico where it’s refined and then sent back this way. We have a local refinery but it’s maxed out and not accepting any new contracts.