"Russia in 2004 reported some 15 billion cubic metres of flaring but we know that the real figure is much higher and estimate Russia could top the list for 2005," GGFR spokesman Mauricio Rios said on the sidelines of the GGFR conference in Paris.

Nigeria was the biggest gas-flaring offender in 2004.

Flaring and venting of natural gas in oil wells is a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global warming.

When crude oil is brought to the surface from several kilometres below, gas associated with oil extraction also comes to the surface.

If oil is produced in areas lacking in gas infrastructure or a nearby gas market, a big slice of this associated gas is released, adding carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Flaring releases about 390 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year into the atmosphere.

The GGFR work programme focuses on trading the associated gas, regulatory frameworks, capacity building to obtain carbon credits for flaring and venting reduction projects, and implementing the GGFR gas flaring and venting standard.

While some countries such as Russia have so far failed to join the World Bank effort, other countries and oil majors are showing ambitious flaring reduction targets.

Algeria's Sonatrach even aims to eliminate gas flaring completely by 2010 and says it has been working to that end since the 1970s.

"We have had dozens of projects since 1973," Mohamed Meziane, chief executive of Sonatrach, told delegates at the conference, adding that gas flaring in Algeria had more than halved in the last 10 years while gas production had doubled.

Christophe de Margerie, head of exploration and production at French oil giant Total , said that while he believed it was impossible to eliminate gas flaring it was still aiming to halve flaring between 2005 and 2012 in existing projects.

Nigeria, which topped the 2004 gas flaring list with 24.1 billion cubic metres of gas flared, now plans to stop flaring completely by 2008.

"The country now has one of the world's most ambitious gas flaring cutting plans," said Rashad Kaldany, director of the oil, gas, mining and chemicals department at the World Bank group.

It is estimated that some 150 billion cubic metres of natural gas are flared and vented annually, equivalent to 30% of the European Union's annual gas consumption, the GGFR said.

"Over the past few years some small progress in flaring reduction has been achieved, but it is clearly not enough," Kaldany said.

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US crude futures ended up today after a government inventory report showed crude stocks last week fell much more than analysts had expected, but trading was choppy as dealers eyed Opec's meeting tomorrow.

"Uncertainty over Opec is holding the market back. A couple of days ago I was convinced they were going to cut. Now we're not sure what Opec has in mind," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in Chicago.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex), January crude rose 35 cents, or 0.57%, to settle at $61.37 per barrel, trading between $60.74 and $61.85.

In London, ICE January Brent crude fell 19 cents to settle at $61.33, trading $61.05 to $61.85. The January Brent contract expires tomorrow.

US crude inventories fell 4.3 million barrels to 335.4 million in the week to 8 December, according to the weekly report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The average of analyst forecasts polled by Reuters was for crude supply to be down 600,000 barrels. None of the 12 analysts polled expected more than 2 million barrel drop.

Crude oil imports averaged 9.6 million barrels per day last week, down 701,000 bpd from the previous week. Imports averaged over 10.0 million bpd over the past four weeks, 132,000 barrels less than the average for the same four-week period in 2005.

"The market had priced in at least a modicum of (Opec) compliance and that's kept us from having a break out move up this morning," said John Kilduff, senior vice-president for energy risk management at Fimat USA.

The crude oil inventory and import slumps arrived a day ahead of Opec's meeting in Abuja, Nigeria, where ministers will consider cutting more production on top of the group's 1.2 million bpd cut that was to be implemented 1 November.

Opec's Ministerial Monitoring Committee will put two recommendations before tomorrow's ministerial meeting, delegates said today.

The first calls for members to fully comply with the current output cut and meet again in January. So far Opec has implemented nearly two thirds of the pledged cuts, according to Reuters estimates. The second recommendation is for another 300,000 bpd cut from 1 January.

Venezuelan Energy and Mines Minister Rafael Ramirez today reiterated his support for a further Opec output cut of 500,000 bpd.

Saudi Arabia's Oil Minister Ali Naimi told reporters on his arrival in Nigeria the market was in better shape than when ministers last met in October. But in addition to Venezuela, Iran and Algeria have indicated support for another cut.

Meanwhile, mild temperatures in key US heating fuel consumer regions have kept the oil futures complex hemmed in.

The National Weather Service's eight- to 14-day outlook released yesterday called for above-normal temperatures for the eastern half of the nation.

US distillate supply, including heating oil and diesel fuel, fell 500,000 barrels to 131.9 million, according to the EIA, much more than the 100,000 barrel draw down expected.

Gasoline supply also fell, though only by 100,000 barrels. But the Reuters forecast was for supply to be up 1.2 million barrels. Refinery use was off 1.4 percentage points to 89.1% even though expectations were that refiners would add another 0.5 percentage point to the previous week's rise.

NYMEX January heating oil managed to rise 0.96 cent or 0.56% to settle at $1.7320 a gallon.

January RBOB rose 2.51 cents, or 1.57%, to settle at $1.6221 per gallon. January gasoline gained 2.24 cents, or 1.4%, to settle at $1.6174.

Published: 13 December 2006 21:34 GMT  | Last updated: 13 December 2006 21:34 GMT