"In terms of venting ....it's not a good thing at all. We're very concerned about it," board spokesman Davis Sheremata said in an interview from Calgary.

Flaring and venting emit methane, carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide, and sometimes hydrogen sulphide. Incomplete combustion during flaring produces emissions of volatile organic compounds near the flare.

"Venting is when you funnel the solution gas off to a flare stack," explained Sheremata. "If you burn it, it's flaring; if you just let it out in the atmosphere, it's venting."

Venting rose by 15.4 per cent in 2007, meaning 347 million cubic metres of greenhouse gas went into the air. In 2006, 307 million cubic metres flowed into the atmosphere.

"Our staff is working with the Clean Air Strategic Alliance, with the environmental community right now, to draw up new regulations that will be coming on stream this year to ensure this is a one-year trend," Sheremata said.

He did not know when the regulations, which have yet to be determined, will be put into place.

The good news is that flaring dropped nearly 15 per cent last year compared to 2006 - a drop from 382 million cubic metres to 325 million cubic metres.

A study by the University of Alberta in 2004 found that cattle can be affected by breathing only small amounts of sulphur dioxide, making them more susceptible to infection.

"Overall, if you add up flaring and venting we went down and it was a good year," Sheremata said. "In terms of venting on its own - no. We have a concern there."

The main reason for the rise is due to more oil batteries operating, Sheremata said. There were 393 new crude bitumen wells in 2007, for a total of 1,993. In 2006, there were 1,600 reporting production.

Each of those new wells don't produce enough solution gas to keep a flaring stack lit and also don't meet the board's test for conservation, so it is just released into the air, the report said.

The report also says the oil and gas industry conserved 95.8 per cent of the solution gas either for their own use or for sale. Sheremata said the board does not ask companies to report to them the amounts sold or used.

The board says since 1996, flaring in Alberta has been reduced by 76 per cent.

It also says that since 2000, venting has been reduced by nearly 51 per cent.

Worldwide, oil companies have been burning the gas associated with crude oil production for years. In 2002, the World Bank launched a joint private/public global partnership to find ways to cut gas flaring while ensuring other benefits, such as energy savings and reduced air pollution.

The World Bank says flaring adds about 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air every year.