Gas Flares at oil refineries waste enormous energy

Gas flares are normally done after a successful oil well has been drilled. I doubt if they will make gas flares right at the refineries. Unless, they have drilled an oil well right in the area of a refinery. I am not a geologist but my brother is one and he told me about it. It was the same way explained to me when I was still a player in the stock market, when there was active oil exploration in our country in the 1980s. Before that, even I was wondering why they have to keep those wells aflame for several days.

The oil wells are flared for a number of days to determine or calculate the amount of oil deposit discovered. The amount of deposit will tell the exploration or oil company if it is economical and profitable to mine out the oil well. Doing the gas flare is the only way, I believe at the moment, for them to determine the amount of oil deposit. They have a gauge on the strength and consistency of the flares. It is some sort of production viability test for oil wells that have been drilled. If the oil well does not prove to be good for production, they plug those oil wells with tons of concrete.

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Eric Graudins says:
17 months ago

Thanks rbnstr08.

Your hub discusses a small part of the gas flare issue, - that which occurs during exploration.

However, the natural gas burnt off as part of the oil refining process is much greater than this, and was the point of my question.

Apparently $50 billion worth of natural gas is burnt worldwide each year by refineries as waste during the fuel production process - some 170 billion cubic metres.

In Africa, 40 billion cubic metres is burnt - which if used for electricity generation, could supply 50% of the country's requirements.

Source:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/business/world-bank-

S0 -

My question remains: Why can't this gas be used for useful purposes.

rbnstr08 says:
17 months ago

Thanks Eric! I never knew that until I visited the link you gave. to that, I researched at wikipedia and came up with this:

Quote: In refineries and chemical plants, its primary purpose is to act as a safety device to protect vessels or pipes from over-pressuring due to unplanned upsets. This acts just like the spout on a tea kettle when it starts whistling as the water in it starts boiling. Whenever plant equipment items are over-pressured, the pressure relief valves on the equipment automatically releases gases (and sometimes liquids as well) which are routed through large piping runs called flare headers to the flare stacks. The released gases and/or liquids are burned as they exit the flare stacks. The size and brightness of the resulting flame depends upon how much flammable material was released. Steam can be injected into the flame to reduce the formation of black smoke. The injected steam does however make the burning of gas sound louder, which can cause complaints from nearby residents. Compared to the emission of black smoke, it can be seen as a valid trade off. In more advanced flare tip designs, if the steam used is too wet it can freeze just below the tip, disrupting operations and causing the formation of large icicles. In order to keep the flare system functional, a small amount of gas is continuously burned, like a pilot light, so that the system is always ready for its primary purpose as an over-pressure safety system. The continuous gas source also helps diluted mixtures achieve complete combustion. Some flares have been used to burn flammable "waste" gases or by-products that are not economical to retain. Over time, the industry is moving to flare-gas recovery systems to decrease waste and reduce emissions. Unquote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_flare

I was also entertaining the thought that it could be "burn-offs" for by-products like asphalt and plastics in refineries. I never imagined it would be that big. Thanks, something new - something learned again for me!