Onshore, gas is most often flared off when it is associated with gas plants and refineries. The flare essentially serves the same purpose as a safety valve.
Offshore, so-called "associated" gas is flared off because there's no way to recover it without a completely separate pipeline system.
If governments get on this bandwagon, like the enviros would like, all it will accomplish is raising the price of gasoline for your car.
maybe convert it into hydrogen somehow? Lots of seawater around