Wayne Christian, the chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, has expressed concern about the volume of associated gas that regulatory local oil producers are burning off rather than putting into storage or using. At a recent hearing, he was the only member of the three-person commission who voted to deny EXCO’s application to flare excess gas rather than load it into existing pipelines.
Christian’s vote was a rare show of dissent, as Texas’ oil and gas regulatory board typically approves such applications unanimously. The chairman said he had spoken out because he was “concerned about whether the current level of flaring is in the long-term best interest of the state of Texas, the industry and the Railroad Commission.”
The hearing was also notable because EXCO was the first company seeking to burn off 100% of its associated gas. Likewise, Williams, the operator of the pipelines in question, was the first midstream operator to object to an upstream producer’s flaring plans.