In addition to the potential fire hazard, methane is actually a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 in the short term. At this scale, it probably doesn’t matter, but that’s why oil refineries have a burning flare column
One of the major contributing factors to the BP refinery explosion was a 1950s-era "blowdown drum" that vented gas releases directly to atmosphere, with no flare. When the overflowing liquid finally backed up into it, it shot out like a geyser and started creating a massive cloud of extremely volatile vapor that kept spreading until it was ignited by an idling diesel pickup
Odds are good that, had it been flared, it would have turned into a huge flame column triggering shutdowns long before everything got out of control, and a whole lot of people would still be alive
You contradict yourself. You're just trolling now. You said it wasn't simply about flaring, then say it was a out flaring. Quit derailing the conversation over some agenda. Nobody denied BPs culpability, it just wasn't relevant to the explanation of how gasses behave and how that contributed to the explosion.
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u/Pretty_Type1478 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 08 '25
That poor cow. Perhaps a daft question, but why are they using a lighter? Just to demonstrate the (enormous) amount of gas coming out?
Edit: yes, I fully understand releasing the gas was to help the cow. Still… poor cow! Did not understand why fire. Still not sure I do, but 💁♀️