North Dakota Flaring Less Natural Gas _ For Now

JAMES MacPHERSON

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The burning glow over North Dakota's oil patch is slowly dimming as companies work to capture and sell natural gas instead of flaring it.

Though the flares atop the oil fields have lessened in recent months, it's still tough to stomach for those in North Dakota who question rising heating bills in the light of the huge hissing flames that burn natural gas as waste.

"I've heard comments here and there that it's too bad all that gas is going to waste," said Greg Armitage, who runs the Hilltop Home of Comfort nursing home in Killdeer, a western North Dakota town of about 700 in the heart of the state's oil fields.

A year ago, almost one-third of natural gas that came to the surface in North Dakota went up in smoke as an unmarketable byproduct of oil production. The 26 billion cubic feet of natural gas that billowed flames and smoke from scores of oil wells was about twice the annual gas consumption of the state.

More than $350 million in infrastructure improvements are either planned or under way in North Dakota to capture natural gas and move it to market, said Justin Kringstad, director of the state Pipeline Authority.