October 12, 2023--Written by Paul Wiseman for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--In the oil-rich Permian Basin, natural gas is almost more of a nuisance than a profit center. The profitability of wells and plays rises and falls only on the oil content. So when takeaway capacity for a well's associated natural gas fills up, it's often considered better to flare the gas and sell the oil than to face the only other alternative--to shut in the well's entire production.