EPA Revises Temporary Flaring Limits and Monitoring Standards for Oil and Gas Sector
Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final rule amending the New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) and Emission Guidelines (EG) for the Crude Oil and Natural Gas Source Category in response to industry reconsideration petitions, finalizes discrete technical changes to temporary flaring allowances and vent gas net heating value (NHV) monitoring requirements for combustion devices.
The regulation extends the baseline time limit for the temporary flaring of associated gas during malfunctions, maintenance, or safety events from 24 hours to 72 hours, and establishes a new allowance for operators to flare beyond the 72-hour threshold if specific "exigent circumstances" severely restrict site access or equipment availability.
Additionally, the rule expands categorical exemptions for NHV continuous monitoring to include all flares and enclosed combustion devices (ECDs) across both new and existing sources, dropping the requirement for continuous monitoring unless inert gases are actively introduced to the waste stream.
These modifications provide oil and natural gas operators significantly more time to secure personnel and repair equipment before facing compliance penalties, directly reducing the operational need to completely shut-in wells.
Operators must cease flaring immediately once a malfunction is resolved, and utilizing the exigent circumstances extension triggers mandatory recordkeeping and annual reporting obligations detailing the event.
By removing universal continuous NHV monitoring requirements, the rule significantly reduces administrative and testing costs for standard flare operations, mandating intensive 14-day sampling only during specific operational scenarios known to depress heating values.
Federal, state, and local government entities are explicitly exempted from the regulation.
The NHV continuous monitoring exemption applies universally to unassisted, air-assisted, and steam-assisted flares and ECDs, but is strictly voided for operations combining affected vent gas with inert streams, such as those from acid gas removal systems, glycol dehydrator unit reboilers without water removal, or enhanced oil recovery flooding operations.
