The axiom, bigger is better may not apply to everything in Texas. For one thing, the Permian Basin is cranking out so much natural gas that producers are burning it in high volumes Bloomberg reports that at the end of last year, producers were burning enough fuel to power every home in Texas. Matt Smith , director of commodity research at Clipper Data, says the burning, or “flaring,” happens in other oil-producing countries, and the U.S. ranks No. 4 among them in terms of total gas burned. Flaring happens across the U.S., but it’s a growing practice in Texas. “We’ve seen flaring prevalent elsewhere … particularly in the Bakken Shale up in North Dakota,” Smith says. “But now, as oil production ramps up in Texas, we’re seeing the Permian Basin join that.” Flaring happens when there isn’t enough pipeline to transport all of the extracted oil, Smith says. And […]