From the Houston Chronicle (certainly not a paper expected to be unfriendly to the oil and gas business).  Flaring is literally burning up natural gas coming out of oil wells.  This is so widespread in the Eagle Ford fracking region that it can be seen from space at night.  That crescent shaped area outside of San Antonio isn’t a city, it’s burning gas.

Flaring in Texas reaches levels not seen since 1950s, oil industry regulator says