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Dubai: Three Gulf states - Qatar, Kuwait and Oman - are expected to sign up soon to a World Bank programme aimed at cutting greenhouse gas emissions by finding commercial uses for natural gas that is still burned, or flared, as a by-product of oil production.
Amid growing awareness of climate change and the need to conserve resources for their expanding water and power needs, the Gulf states are seeking ways to reduce their huge environmental footprint.
Qatar and Kuwait are among the world's top carbon dioxide emitters per capita, according to recent US statistics.
The region flares about 30 billion cubic metres a year of gas, the equivalent of 900,000 barrels a day of crude oil, or about $10 billion a year, says Bent Svensson, manager of the bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction partnership.
"In most cases there is an econ-omically viable solution to stop flaring," he said. Commercial uses can be found for flared natural gas, such as feedstock for petrochemicals and power or for reinjection into oil fields to boost crude production.
Strain
According to WWF, the conservation agency, the UAE has the highest per-capita consumption of resources. Ambitious real estate projects and the fast-growing oil-driven economy are placing a severe strain on power supplies in the UAE, which in spite of having the world's fourth-largest natural gas reserves faces a gas shortage.
Concerns over electricity and water capacity are becoming an issue across the Gulf states, not just in the boom town of Dubai. "Reducing flaring can both contribute to carbon mitigation and improve energy efficiency by finding other means to use the gas," says Svensson.
Annual global gas flaring of 150 billion cubic metres produces the equivalent of 400 million tonnes of CO2. If eliminated, this would achieve the same emissions reduction currently achieved by the 3,000 projects of the Kyoto protocol's clean development mechanism, he says.
The partnership programme monitors countries' use of flaring through satellite imagery. Countries that sign up promise to eliminate flaring from all new production projects and to reduce existing flaring to a minimum within about seven years.
The three Gulf states set to join the World Bank's partnership together contribute seven billion cubic metres a year, but Iran and Iraq each flare seven billion cubic metres of gas.
Outside the Gulf, West Africa and Russia are big sources of gas flaring.
The World Bank has discussed the issue with Iranian officials on the sidelines of recent meetings of Opec, the oil producers' group of which Iran is a member. But UN and US sanctions against the Islamic republic, including some curbs on investment in its energy sector, have slowed progress towards bringing Tehran into the partnership.
Iraq, meanwhile, has other, more pressing internal issues, says Svensson.
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