"Oil and gas operators could economically capture nearly half their flared or vented natural gas on federal land to boost government royalties and reduce heat-trapping emissions, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released yesterday.

Using off-the-shelf technologies, operators could save about 40 percent of gas vented or burned at federal onshore leases and add about $23 million to their annual federal royalty payments, the 57-page report found.

The savings could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the equivalent of 16.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide -- the amount of CO2 generated by 3.1 million cars -- the report says."

Phil Taylor reports for Greenwire December 1, 2010. [2]