In the United States, DOE’s EIA collects and reports data provided voluntarily by the states on the amount of natural gas flared and vented, but the data are incomplete, inconsistent, and not as useful as they could be from an environmental perspective. Information on gas flared and vented outside the United States is also limited, since international reporting generally is voluntary and there is no single organization that is responsible for collecting and reporting this data. EIA could improve flaring and venting data by enhancing its guidance to states and collecting data directly from oil and gas producers; EIA, MMS, and BLM could also improve data by collecting and reporting data on venting separately from data on flaring. By taking these actions, the federal government could serve as a model for global data collection and reporting. EIA could also investigate improvements in global data collection and reporting by using satellite images and data to better estimate the volume of natural gas flared in other countries and by continuing to support international efforts to improve data. In the United States, data collected and reported on the flaring and venting of natural gas associated with oil and gas production are incomplete, inconsistent, and not as useful as they could be from an environmental perspective. Regarding the completeness of the data, although MMS and BLM require companies that lease federal lands and offshore areas for oil and gas production to report flaring and venting statistics, EIA does not use its authority to require information on flaring and venting from all other U.S. oil- and gas-producing companies. According to EIA officials, the data on flaring and venting that EIA collects as part of overall oil and gas production data represent a relatively small portion of EIA’s energy data reporting program. Since the agency has limited resources, these data are a relatively low priority. As a result, rather than requiring that the estimated 20,000 domestic oil- and gas-producing companies provide flaring and venting data—which would consume considerable resources—EIA collects this information from the oil- and gas-producing states on a voluntary basis. Many states do not provide this information, however, and EIA has no authority to require them to do so. Consequently, EIA’s flaring and venting information is incomplete. In addition to being incomplete, the data the states provide to EIA are also inconsistent. Since flaring and venting data are not a high priority for EIA, the agency has provided only limited guidelines to states to promote consistency in the information that they voluntarily submit. As a result, only 8 of the 32 oil- and gas-producing states provide data that EIA considers consistent, leaving EIA to estimate the amount of flaring and venting in the other 24 states. When we asked state officials about EIA guidelines for reporting, officials from 15 states said they were unsure what information EIA wanted and how EIA wanted it presented. Most officials from the states answering our questions about the guidelines thought they needed improvement, and some officials said they would like to participate in developing improved guidelines to ensure that the states would be able to meet EIA’s requests. The data that EIA, MMS, and BLM collect are further limited because they do not distinguish between gas that is flared and gas that is vented. As a result, from an environmental perspective, the information is not as useful as it could be. EIA, MMS, and BLM do not collect separate flaring and venting data because their focus is on the amount of gas produced for the market and not on the gas that is lost through flaring and venting. EPA, on the other hand, considers flared and vented gas in the context of the damage it could inflict on the environment: vented gas emissions (methane), and to a lesser extent flared gas emissions (carbon dioxide), contribute to total greenhouse gases. According to EPA officials, differentiating data on flaring and venting could improve EPA estimates of each gas’s contribution to total greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Because EPA does not collect its own flaring and venting data, however, it must rely on the combined data that these other agencies collect. EIA believes that the data the states voluntarily provide on production— from which the data on flaring and venting are taken—could be improved as well. In particular, because some states do not report information at all, EIA is considering using its authority to collect information on production directly from natural gas well operators. Toward that end, EIA has published for comment a proposed sample survey of monthly natural gas production in the Federal Register. If the survey were implemented, well operators would be required to provide EIA with production data and the form would include a category for flaring and venting data. Among other things, EIA has sought comments from well operators as to whether they can provide reliable measures of gas flared and vented. However, even if the proposed sample form is implemented and, as proposed, collects information on flared and vented data, the focus will be on improving production data and not on flaring and venting data. Outside the United States, information on gas flared and vented is even more limited. Generally, international reporting is also voluntary, and no single organization is responsible for collecting and reporting flaring and venting data. Although several organizations collect data voluntarily provided by countries with which they have a working relationship, the numbers countries report are sometimes questionable. For example, the United Nations requests data as part of its work on climate change, but few countries report meaningful data. In addition to U.S. data, EIA also reports worldwide information largely based on estimates developed by Cedigaz, an oil and gas industry association that gathers what is generally recognized as the best flaring and venting information available. A Cedigaz official told us that they rely on submissions from countries and companies around the world to make their estimates and that they accept the information the countries report unless Cedigaz has knowledge of a country’s operations that could be used to improve the accuracy of the amounts reported. For example, on the basis of submissions by Russia and China—two important petroleum-producing countries—Cedigaz has reported that these countries do not flare or vent. World Bank officials told us, however, it is generally known that Russia regularly flares and vents gas. Satellite images created by NOAA have confirmed that Russia does, in fact, participate in flaring. In addition, as in the United States, the global data are limited from an environmental perspective because they do not distinguish between the amounts flared and the amounts vented. More accurate worldwide data would provide a clearer understanding of both the extent to which flaring and venting emissions contribute to total greenhouse gases and the countries that do the most flaring and venting. This would provide a basis for targeting actions designed to prevent the waste of a potentially valuable resource while at the same time reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere. Federal agencies have a number of opportunities available to them to improve the information on flaring and venting. EIA could clarify its guidelines to states for collecting and reporting flaring and venting data. Currently, EIA assumes that about 75 percent of the reports it receives from oil- and gas-producing states contain inconsistent data. State officials believe that they could better meet EIA’s data needs—that is, provide EIA with more consistent data—if they had more comprehensive guidance from EIA on the data it wants and how to report them. Similarly, as the reporting of greenhouse gas emissions has become more widespread globally, the oil and gas industry has begun to recognize the need for guidance on how emissions, such as carbon dioxide and methane, should be collected and reported. In December 2003, three petroleum industry associations jointly issued a report, “Petroleum Industry Guidelines for Reporting Greenhouse Gas Emissions,” to promote consistency in collecting and reporting petroleum industry greenhouse gas emissions. EIA could consider using these guidelines while working with industry and state officials to improve their state guidelines for reporting emissions from flaring and venting of natural gas. Another opportunity for improving the data is for EIA to consider using its general energy information collecting authority to collect data on flaring and venting directly from the oil and gas producers, rather than relying on voluntary submissions by states. (Producers with federal leases are already required to collect and report this information to MMS and BLM.) While EIA considers these data a relatively low priority, and while collecting data from all 20,000 domestic producers could involve extensive resources, there may be efficient and cost-effective methods of collecting sample data. In addition, from an environmental perspective, the federal government could broaden the usefulness of flaring and venting information by distinguishing between the amounts of gas flared and the amounts vented. Since natural gas that is vented has a more significant effect on the atmosphere than natural gas that is flared, reporting these emissions separately could enable EPA to better estimate methane’s and carbon dioxide’s contributions to greenhouse gases. Finally, on a worldwide basis, the federal government could improve flaring and venting data in several ways. First, the U.S. government could continue to improve its own data, thereby providing an example for other countries. Second, EIA, working with NOAA, could investigate the feasibility of supplementing the data already available by using U.S. satellite images. For example, figure 2 (see p. 14) shows worldwide flaring identified in 2002 using satellite technology. According to a NOAA physical scientist, analyzing these satellite data could validate the amount of flaring reported by countries. For example, some countries, like Russia, report no flaring, while satellite images show substantial flaring is actually occurring. Third, the federal government could continue to support efforts such as the World Bank Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) that, in part, seeks to develop guidance for data collection and reporting.