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7 Countries Flare 65% of Global Gas Associated with Extracting Oil, Report Finds

Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela and Nigeria remain the top seven gas flaring countries for nine years running.
Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela and Nigeria remain the top seven gas flaring countries for nine years running.
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7 Countries Flare 65% of Global Gas Associated with Extracting Oil, Report Finds

Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela and Nigeria remain the top seven gas flaring countries for nine years running.
Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela and Nigeria remain the top seven gas flaring countries for nine years running.

Russia, Iraq, Iran, the United States, Algeria, Venezuela and Nigeria remain the top seven gas flaring countries for nine years running, since the first satellite was launched in 2012, stated a recent report by the World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR).

These seven countries produce 40 percent of the world’s oil each year, but account for roughly two-thirds (65 percent) of global gas flaring, it noted.

This trend is indicative of ongoing, though differing, challenges facing these countries.

For example, the United States has thousands of individual flare sites, difficult to connect to a market, while a few high flaring oil fields in East Siberia in the Russian Federation are extremely remote, lacking the infrastructure to capture and transport the associated gas.

Gas flaring, the burning of natural gas associated with oil extraction, takes place due to a range of issues, from market and economic constraints, to a lack of appropriate regulation and political will.

The practice results in a range of pollutants released into the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, methane and black carbon (soot).

“The methane emissions from gas flaring contribute significantly to global warming in short to medium term because methane is over 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide on a 20-year basis,” the report said.

The World Bank’s 2020 Global Gas Flaring Tracker, a leading global and independent indicator of gas flaring, found that from 2019 to 2020, oil production declined by eight percent (from 82 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2019 to 76 million b/d in 2020).

It further pointed out that global gas flaring reduced by five percent (from 150 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2019 to 142 bcm in 2020).

Nonetheless, the world still flared enough gas to power sub-Saharan Africa.

According to the report, the United States accounted for 70 percent of the global decline, with gas flaring falling by 32 percent from 2019 to 2020, due to an eight percent drop in oil production, combined with new infrastructure to use gas that would otherwise be flared.

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Saudi Arabia Makes History with Adoption of Riyadh Treaty on Design Law

Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Saudi Arabia Makes History with Adoption of Riyadh Treaty on Design Law

Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Photo of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Saudi Arabia has made history by uniting the 193 member states of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) to adopt the Riyadh Treaty on Design Law. This landmark achievement, realized after two decades of deliberation, underscores the Kingdom’s leadership in enhancing the global intellectual property system.

The announcement came at the conclusion of the Riyadh Diplomatic Conference on the Design Law Treaty, a rare event for WIPO, which has not held a diplomatic conference outside Geneva for more than a decade. It was also the first such event hosted in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East, representing the final stage of negotiations to establish an agreement aimed at simplifying and standardizing design protection procedures across member states.

Over the past two weeks, intensive discussions and negotiations among member states culminated in the adoption of the Riyadh Treaty, which commits signatory nations to a unified set of requirements for registering designs, ensuring consistent and streamlined procedures worldwide. The agreement is expected to have a significant positive impact on designers, enabling them to protect their creations more effectively and uniformly across international markets.

At a press conference held on Friday to mark the event’s conclusion, CEO of the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property Abdulaziz Al-Suwailem highlighted the economic potential of the new protocol.

Responding to a question from Asharq Al-Awsat, Al-Suwailem noted the substantial contributions of young Saudi men and women in creative design. He explained that the agreement will enable their designs to be formally protected, allowing them to enter markets as valuable, tradable assets.

He also emphasized the symbolic importance of naming the convention the Riyadh Treaty, stating that it reflects Saudi Arabia’s growing influence as a bridge between cultures and a global center for innovative initiatives.

The treaty lays critical legal foundations to support designers and drive innovation worldwide, aligning with Saudi Arabia’s vision of promoting international collaboration in the creative industries and underscoring its leadership in building a sustainable future for innovators.

The agreement also advances global efforts to enhance creativity, protect intellectual property, and stimulate innovation on a broader scale.

This achievement further strengthens Saudi Arabia’s position as a global hub for groundbreaking initiatives, demonstrating its commitment to nurturing creativity, safeguarding designers’ rights, and driving the development of creative industries on an international scale.

The Riyadh Diplomatic Conference, held from November 11 to 22, was hosted by the Saudi Authority for Intellectual Property and attracted high-ranking officials and decision-makers from WIPO member states.