American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2020 - 18

IndustryDigest
assets, and it helped to create the Center
for Offshore Safety, which was
established to promote the highest level
of safety for the U.S. offshore oil and
gas industry. The center works with the
offshore industry on implementing both
RPI 75 and the Bureau of Safety and
Environmental Enforcement's SEMS
requirements. ❒

Industry Partnership
For Safety, Environment
Expands Membership
WASHINGTON-The Environmental
Partnership marked its second
anniversary by noting it now represents
more than one-third of U.S. industry oil
and gas production with 69 participating
companies. It says the initiative includes
32 of the top 40 gas producers, with
member companies innovating and
adding best practices to improve
environmental performance and further
reduce emissions in every U.S. basin.
"The rapid growth of The
Environmental Partnership in its first
two years demonstrates the
commitment of the U.S. natural gas
and oil industry to delivering solutions
that lower emissions while meeting
society's growing energy needs," says
Matthew Todd, the group's program
director. "The collective actions of the
industry in The Environmental
Partnership already have proven
effective in reducing emissions, and we
are proud of the achievements of this
growing coalition."
Overall, the group reports the natural
gas industry's methane emissions have
fallen 14% even as production has
increased 50% since 1990, which it says
is effectively a 43% reduction.
Accomplishments of The
Environmental Partnership include:
· Applying leak detection and
repair programs, with participants
conducting more than 156,000 surveys
across nearly 80,000 production sites.
The surveys inspected more than 56
million components and found 0.16% in
need of repair-a tenth of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's
estimated 1.4%. The group adds 99% of
those were repaired within 60 days.
· Upgrading and replacing
emissions-related equipment, including
more than 31,000 high-bleed pneumatic
controllers replaced, retrofitted or
18 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

removed from service.
· Sharing innovation through
annual conferences to discuss research
and technology developments by
academia, equipment manufacturers and
regulators.
In December 2017, the American
Petroleum Institute formed The
Environmental Partnership with 26 gas
and oil member companies, with an
initial focus on improving management
of volatile organic compound and
methane emissions. API says the group
remains committed to improving
member companies' environmental
performance by implementing programs
that target emissions through
collaboration and advanced technology.
The Independent Petroleum
Association of America says
successfully mitigating methane
emissions requires innovative industry
efforts as well as gathering information
to challenge legislative and regulatory
roadblocks created by governments and
anti-industry groups. IPAA points to its
efforts, including Energy in Depth and
aggressive responses to regulatory
proposals, as complementary to The
Environmental Partnership's work. ❒

ONE Future Members
Cut Methane Emissions
HOUSTON-Natural gas companies
working together in the ONE Future
coalition continue to cut their methane
emissions. According to U.S.
Environmental Protection Agencyapproved reporting protocols, the
coalition says its members' methane
intensity number dropped to 0.326% in
2018 from the previous year's 0.0552%
mark, a 41% decrease.
ONE Future, formed in 2014, is a
coalition of 20 companies working in
the natural gas value chain committed
to voluntarily cutting methane
emissions across the gas supply chain
to 1% or less of total natural gas
production by 2025, the group says. It
adds member companies undertake
measures such as upgrading and
replacing pipeline infrastructure and
actively seeking and repairing system
leaks to lower their methane
emissions. To demonstrate credible
results, members agree to measure
their emissions and track their
progress over time according to

approved reporting protocols.
ONE Future is partnering with the
U.S. Department of Energy's National
Energy Technology Laboratory to
improve operational efficiency and
mitigate methane emissions. The
coalition says member companies
provide emissions data to the
laboratory to allow it to characterize
ONE Future's supply chain greenhouse
gas emissions and evaluate
opportunities for improvement.
To enable multiple companies
involved in different sectors of the
natural gas supply chain to report
methane emissions consistently and
transparently, ONE Future says it has
developed a methane emissions
estimation protocol, which defines both
the annual emissions intensity
calculation techniques as well as the
method by which annual results will be
compared with the ONE Future sector
and overall goals. It tracks company and
program progress by calculating
emission intensities at the national,
segment and participant levels.
For example, the production sector
uses an emission allocation approach
that uses the energy content of the
production stream, including gas and
crude/condensate, to allocate total
emissions to those represented by gas
production alone. ONE Future says this
allocation is necessary because its
emission intensity value is based on
gross gas production, and co-produced
crude or condensate volumes are not
included in the gas value chain.
"Our members have made great
strides in reducing their methane
intensity, even as production and
throughput increased," says Richard
Hyde, executive director of ONE
Future. "These numbers prove that
natural gas can be a clean, sustainable
fuel, meeting the energy needs of our
country and around the globe for years
to come." ❒

New Mexico Joins Effort
Promoting LNG Exports
SAN DIEGO-New Mexico has
joined the Western States and Tribal
Nations (WSTN) natural gas initiative,
an international coalition of states,
counties and tribal nations. The
coalition advocates for responsible
energy development to improve rural
American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2020

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