We continue to pursue activities to reduce the flaring or venting of the gas that is unavoidably produced in association with oil. Such reductions will make a significant contribution to cutting our GHG emissions, as flaring and venting accounted for approximately 25 percent of our 2003 total GHG emissions.

In 2003, work was initiated or continued on several major capital projects that incorporate flaring reduction or elimination elements. For example, the US$1.9 billion Sanha Condensate Project in Angola and the planned Angola Liquefied Natural Gas Project are both part of our commitment to eliminate routine flaring from our Angolan operations. The West African Gas Pipeline will move natural gas which previously would have been flared from Nigeria into Togo, Benin and Ghana. In addition, expansion of the existing Escravos Gas Plant and a gas-to-liquids project at Escravos are being evaluated as a means of further reducing flaring.

We also continued to support the World Bank Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFRP), through our role on the steering committee and providing a seconded employee to the partnership team.

Looking ahead, we anticipate finalizing a new gas-flaring standard for our international upstream operations. The standard, which will be aligned with the voluntary one recently proposed by the World Bank GGFRP, aims to eliminate continual venting and flaring.