Hormuz risk reshapes tanker earnings as Scorpio and Seaways post records

A new investigation by Bloomberg News and The Examination has found persistent gas flaring at oil sites tied to companies participating in the World Bank's Zero Routine Flaring initiative, despite pledges by ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum and others to reduce or eliminate the practice by 2030. The investigation found that the World Bank's definition of routine flaring allows companies to keep flaring frequently while still being considered non-routine, and that the initiative only requires eliminating routine flaring where it is economically viable, a determination left to the companies themselves. In one example off the coast of Angola, BP and the Italian oil giant Eni bundled their operations into a single joint venture, which then became the technical operator of the sites, removing the flares from the two companies' environmental ledgers even though they still own and profit from the assets. Diamondback Energy says it has eliminated routine flaring, but the investigation found flaring on the ground most days, and in Oman, Occidental Petroleum says it has eliminated routine flaring even though satellites picked up flaring 99 percent of the time. Residents near flares from Texas to the Niger Delta to Patagonia report noise, odors and health concerns, and one Texas resident, Bodo Ramirez, filed complaints with state regulators that were closed after regulators determined the flaring was within permitted limits. The reporters noted that Kazakhstan cut flaring by 90 percent over the past decade through enforceable rules and limits, suggesting stronger regulation rather than voluntary pledges is what changes behavior.