A secret recording of US oil executives at a gathering last year in Colorado revealed that they were worried that some producers were intentionally flaring or burning off far too much natural gas, threatening the industry’s image, the New York Times (NYT) yesterday reported.
“We’re just flaring a tremendous amount of gas,” the NYT quotes Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, telling the June 2019 gathering, held in Colorado Springs, Colorado during the 1hr 22 minutes recording it said it listened to. “This pesky natural gas,” he said. “The value of it is very minimal,” particularly to companies drilling mainly for oil.
The meeting was convened last year by the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), a group that represents energy companies and of which ExxonMobil is a member.
