American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2023 - 64

SpecialReport: ESG Best Practices
pace. To select technologies that best suit their needs, operators
must determine which problem or problems are most important
to solve. For example, operators may want to:
· Reduce leak detection and repair costs, which will likely
mean evaluating new technologies to verify that they are faster,
cheaper or more precise than traditional cameras;
· Manage stakeholder critiques of emissions performance
and benchmark well against peers;
· Find super emitters as quickly as possible;
· Move from emissions factor-based reporting to measurement-informed
emissions reporting;
· Translate environmental performance into improved realized
prices or market access;
· Cost-effectively achieve regulatory compliance and minimize
tax obligations; or
· Increase operational efficiency
Establishing A Baseline
Once they have clarified their goals, operators' next step
likely will be creating baseline data so they understand where
their emissions come from and can develop effective solutions.
Data collection generally begins with:
· Identifying and listing emission sources;
· Performing a rapid survey to reveal any unexpected
sources; and
· Revisiting the source list to prioritize the most material ones.
For long-term success, operators also need to:
· Evaluate existing-or straightforward to acquire-data
sources for monitoring emissions;
· Select measurement technologies to perform discrete campaigns
and/or ongoing surveys; and
· Perform site-level measurements to validate emissions inventories
at least once a year.
Baseline characterizations can help all operators select the
right technologies for their situations without overspending.
Before they invest heavily in new technologies, operators
should figure out how much the operational data they already
collect can help manage emissions. Environmentally relevant
emissions are much smaller than engineering relevant quantities,
so, for example, the difference in production meters at the wellhead
versus at the inlet to a processing plant cannot be used to
discern differences in parts-per-billion emissions. However,
some signatures in operational data promptly can help identify
areas of concern.
For example, a LiDAR flyover may detect abnormal tank
emissions, which an operator can corroborate by looking at tank
pressures in its SCADA system. But rather than relying on
LiDAR to identify whether a tank was open and then retrospectively
checking whether it has been resolved, an operator can
flag potential abnormal tank emissions based on operational tank
pressure data. Similarly, an operator should not need a flyover
to determine whether a flare is lit; that too can come from
SCADA data.
Selecting Technologies
Though it can be powerful, operational data is only one piece
of an effective emissions measurement portfolio. A responsible
operator must still select a range of technologies across its asset
base, a particularly challenging task given the rapid changes to
detection hardware, deployment methods and economics.
One challenge is that most operators do not understand the
available measurement instruments' strengths and limitations well
enough to interpret the new emissions measurement data. Nor do
most instrument vendors understand operations well enough to
translate that data into actionable insights. Thus, as operators select
measurement technologies, they must consider how to utilize
and internalize the data so that it's accessible and actionable.
Measuring and managing methane emissions is challenging,
but the upside for operators, industry and the environment is
massive, especially as the industry argues for long-term growth
in North America's natural gas production as a means of decarbonization.
The specific technology portfolios operators deploy
will vary depending on their mix of wells and facilities. However,
all operators can benefit from improved measurement plans
and systems. By augmenting these systems with existing operational
data, they can shrink their emissions at a lower cost. ❒
ERIN
TULLOS
Erin Tullos is a senior adviser on carbon strategies at Validere. She has 16 years of
experience in environmental research, regulatory advocacy and compliance. In addition to
working as a senior adviser and uncertainty and reconciliation expert for the Oil & Gas
Methane Partnership 2.0, part of the United Nations Environmental Program, Tullos is a
visiting research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin, where she studies methane
emissions and mitigation. She holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Texas A&M University.
64 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER
American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2023

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