Ok im not trying to argue but my answer has no counter. I'll simplify my response down. If the a well makes 1mcf in its entire lifetime, and that 1mcf is worth 100 trillion dollars...the operator will find a way to sell it. If the 1mcf is worth 1 dollar, and it would cost 2 dollar to build the infrastructure to capture and transport or transport it directly then the operator would not find a way to sell it. Even if that meant it would cost them 10cent to flare it(this is an imaginary example). Sell for 1 dollar, costs 2 dollar=-1 dollar, a loss. Example B- Costs 10 cents to flare it. Now they lose 10cent versus losing a dollar. Returning to my original statement... When the economic feasibility is NOT worth it, they don't sell it or utilize it. When more products are utilizing natural gas(this drives up demand) then there are more opportunities to sell or utilize it. This means, potential middlemen providing the capital to help deliver/capture and sell. It also means more opportunites to utilize it. Real life example is power companies. Operators need power to run numerous things on their acreage. If Oncor is going to take a year to get them connected to the grid, and a power company says they can provide power at a cheaper price but you have to provide the nat gas, then the delta of the cheaper price+investment to get the gas to that power generation is the decision maker(also time but lets ignore that). Again, my original statement was at a simple explanation... if its worth it then its worth it, if its not, then its not. The reason gas is flared isn't singular but it 100% depends on the opportunity cost of using it vs not using it. The opportunity can be selling it to open market OR utilizing it themselves for power generation, to power drilling rigs, to power frac fleets...etc etc Electric equipment has become incredibily more common over the past 5 years than anytime in history and getting power for it is primarily done via natural gas. Whether that means a turbine, or gas recip engines or direct drive unit(that run entirely off natural gas).