Statoil to reduce gas flaring in North Dakota

OSLO: Norway's Statoil plans to capture more of the gas it would otherwise flare in the Bakken prospect in North Dakota, using it to power its own operations as it produces shale oil, it said on Thursday.

The company plans to power up to six drill rigs and one frac fleet with the gas, capturing three to five million cubic feet per day by the end of 2014, it said in a statement.

Statoil produces shale oil in the Bakken but has to flare some of its gas as the area lacks pipeline infrastructure. It estimates that operators in the Bakken flare 300 million cubic feet of gas per day.