MOSCOW - Russia has delayed its plan to reduce gas flaring to 5 percent within three years to 2014, Russia's Natural Resources Minister Yuri Trutnev said on Thursday.
Flaring gas that is found when extracting oil, and is considered too hard or expensive to get to market, sends tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Both the Energy and Natural Resources ministries have decided to postpone the target, Trutnev told reporters, declining to name a reason for the delay.
The two ministries had previously rowed over how to stop Russia from flaring nearly $13 billion of gas each year, reinforcing doubts that the country would meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 2011 deadline.
Some experts say Russia, the world's biggest gas exporter, is also the leading flarer of gas, although by its own calculations it is only the second largest after Nigeria.
For some, a fear of government-proposed fines combined with the commercial prospect of selling the gas encouraged firms to establish vigorous programmes to curb gas flaring
Russia's largest oil producer and biggest flarer, Rosneft, will spend 67 billion roubles ($2.74 billion) over the next five years on gas utilization.
Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom, has said it will invest 17.6 billion roubles ($714.6 million) in cutting gas flaring in 2008-2010.
Flaring gas that is found when extracting oil, and is considered too hard or expensive to get to market, sends tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Both the Energy and Natural Resources ministries have decided to postpone the target, Trutnev told reporters, declining to name a reason for the delay.
The two ministries had previously rowed over how to stop Russia from flaring nearly $13 billion of gas each year, reinforcing doubts that the country would meet Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 2011 deadline.
Some experts say Russia, the world's biggest gas exporter, is also the leading flarer of gas, although by its own calculations it is only the second largest after Nigeria.
For some, a fear of government-proposed fines combined with the commercial prospect of selling the gas encouraged firms to establish vigorous programmes to curb gas flaring
Russia's largest oil producer and biggest flarer, Rosneft, will spend 67 billion roubles ($2.74 billion) over the next five years on gas utilization.
Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom, has said it will invest 17.6 billion roubles ($714.6 million) in cutting gas flaring in 2008-2010.
