Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have (1) to reduce and, if possible, (2) to eliminate, the flaring of surplus gas from production platforms and refineries before COP26.

The Government continues to support measures in place to continue the reduction in flared and vented gas, via both the individual actions of the relevant regulators and collaborative engagement to share learning and identify further improvements on this practice.

The Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) is taking a robust stance to reduce flaring and venting from oil and gas production platforms through its consents, field development process and project stewardship role. The OGA issues consents for flaring and venting of gas on extant licences, where necessary for safety purposes, and is exploring tougher measures as part of this process, to eliminate unnecessary flaring and venting. The OGA has also expanded its benchmarking activity to the flaring and venting of greenhouse gases on the UK Continental Shelf – detailing flaring and venting activity levels in the North Sea – to enable operators to learn from good examples set by others.

In 2018, the Environment Agency reissued its environmental permits for oil & gas refineries under the Environmental Permitting Regulations to reflect the revised European standard limiting the use of flares for safety reasons or for non-routine operational conditions only, alongside several techniques for reducing emissions to air when flaring is unavoidable.

Furthermore, the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) is responsible for developing, administering and enforcing the offshore oil and gas environmental regulatory regime. As the Regulator for the environment, OPRED is charged with protecting the environment, and issuing permits under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme which provides a fiscal regime for emissions reduction.