American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2022 - 44

SpecialReport: Smart IT And ESG
Emissions Drop Without Regulations
WASHINGTON-About a year ago,
when the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency unveiled a notice of proposed
rulemaking to cover methane emissions
from oil and gas production facilities,
several industry representatives described
the proposal as incomplete and vague.
Some theorized the agency released an
arguably half-baked rulemaking so President
Joe Biden could highlight the
proposal at the 2021 United Nations
Climate Change Conference, which was
going on at the time (AOGR, December
2021, pg. 33).
Such urgency seems absent a year
later. By late October-weeks after EPA
had said it expected to publish the final
regulation-no methane rule for oil and
gas sites had yet surfaced. Media speculation
about the delay included the
need to revise the rule according to the
methane fee in HR 5376, the " Inflation
Reduction Act " that Biden signed in
August. The delay also may reflect political
calculations in the month before
an election, the media suggests, adding
that high consumer energy prices and
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting
Countries' decision to cut oil output
may make obstacles to energy production
concerning to many voters.
Nevertheless, oil and gas companies
have slashed methane emissions significantly
without sweeping and complex
new federal requirements, advocates observe,
pointing out that the industry's
FIGURE 1
Methane Emissions Decline As Oil & Gas Production Grows
emissions reductions are visible
in the EPA's own data.
Voluntary Improvement
Energy In Depth, a research,
education and public outreach
campaign of the Independent
Petroleum Association of
America, summarizes the situation
aptly in a blog post at
www.energyindepth.org/epaoil-and-natural-gas-methaneemissions-fall-despite-recordproduction.
Writing more than half a year
ahead of EPA's proposed rulemaking, EID
observes that the industry's drop in greenhouse
gas emissions does not correlate
with a drop in hydrocarbon production or
consumption. In fact, the data shows the
opposite phenomenon.
" Methane emissions in the United
States have continued their downward
trend from 2005 levels according to EPA's
2021 Greenhouse Gas Inventory, " EID
observes. " In fact, total U.S. greenhouse
gas emissions continue to decline despite
increased production and consumption
of oil and natural gas. "
EPA attributes much of this improvement
to declines in carbon dioxide emissions,
as natural gas has displaced coal in
the electric generation mix, the group says.
It quotes EPA saying the decline has been
" driven largely by a decrease in emissions
from fossil fuel combustion resulting from
a decrease in total energy use in 2019
Nevertheless, oil and gas companies have
slashed methane emissions significantly
without sweeping and complex new federal
requirements, advocates observe, pointing
out that the industry's emissions reductions
are visible in the EPA's own data.
compared with 2018 and a continued shift
from coal to natural gas and renewables
in the electric power sector. "
Citing EPA data, EID says that the
positive trend is not attributable solely to
the fact that combusted natural gas emits
around half as much CO2 as combusted
coal. " Total CO2 equivalent of U.S. GHG
emissions dropped 11.6% from 2005 and
methane emissions are down 16.6% since
1990 despite record production of oil
and natural gas, " EID notes (Figure 1).
The evidence shows that despite the
absence of federal mandates governing
fugitive and flash emissions, U.S. oil and
gas companies have demonstrated significant
progress at containing methane.
" The 17% drop in oil and gas methane
emissions can be attributed to the industry's
investments in reducing leaks and improving
pipeline infrastructure, " EID affirms.
" Methane emissions fell by 69%
in natural gas distribution systems, and
decreased 35% in natural gas transmission
and storage. "
17%
Oil & Gas
Methane
Emissions
Sources: U.S. EPA; U.S. EIA 1990-2019
Graphic provided by: Energy In Depth
44 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER
96%
Natural
Gas
Production
66%
Oil
Production
And those improved emissions profiles
correspond not with an energy transition
away from natural gas, the group emphasizes.
Rather, natural gas production,
infrastructure build-out and consumption
have skyrocketed.
" These astonishing decreases occurred
while the industry added more than
370,000 miles of new gas pipeline since
1990 to support a 62% increase in national
demand, " EID details.
Since 2005, much of that demand growth
has come from the U.S. power sector, it
notes, adding that U.S. power generators
have doubled their natural gas intake at
the same time their sector-wide emissions
have fallen 33%. According to a 2021

http://www.energyindepth.org/epaoil-and-natural-gas-methaneemissions-fall-despite-recordproduction http://www.energyindepth.org/epaoil-and-natural-gas-methaneemissions-fall-despite-recordproduction http://www.energyindepth.org/epaoil-and-natural-gas-methaneemissions-fall-despite-recordproduction http://www.energyindepth.org/epaoil-and-natural-gas-methaneemissions-fall-despite-recordproduction

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2022

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