The year 2024 signed a sad record in terms of torchage, a practice which consists in burning the gas emitted during the oil extraction without valuing it. According to a report published by the World Bank, Friday, July 18, the quantity of bullfighted gas increased by 3 billion cubic meters compared to 2023, thus exceeding for the first time in almost twenty years the annual threshold of 150 billion cubic meters burned around the world. A quantity equivalent to the annual gas consumption of the entire African continent.
“This practice is terrible for the climate”denounces Eszter Matyas, campaign manager specializing in fossil fuels in Greenpeace Europe. The torchage issued 389 million tonnes of CO equivalent2 In 2024 – more than France’s emissions which amount to 369.2 million tonnes of CO equivalent2 In 2024 – including 46 million tonnes of methane. This greenhouse gas lasts shorter in the atmosphere, but has a much higher warming power than that of carbon dioxide: more than 80 times higher over twenty years, and 30 times over a hundred years. The torchage pollutes thus “In pure loss”as the report indicates, because this gas is burned before it could even have been exploited as a source of energy.
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