Hydrocarbon Processing - April 2022 - GP-12

SUSTAINABILITY
Managing methane: Has the answer
been under our noses all along?
O. RODRIGUEZ, Lloyd's Register, Houston, Texas; and C. PENMAN, Lloyd's Register, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK
More than 100 participating countries
at the 26th UN Climate Change
Conference of the Parties (COP26)
signed the Global Methane Pledge, in
which they agreed to take action to reduce
methane emissions at least 30%
by 2030 vs. 2020 levels. This focus on
methane reflects its significant contribution
to climate change. Scientists
believe that methane has 28-34 times
more warming power than carbon dioxide
(CO2
). Oil and gas companies
are among the leading methane emitters
and will ultimately play a significant role
in making good on the pledge.
Although the related costs and technical
implications make it a challenging
issue for oil and gas operators to address,
reducing methane emissions is high on
the industry's agenda. Leadership discussions
at last year's ADIPEC conference
shined a light on the need for the continued
development and use of breakthrough
technologies to improve sustainability,
including reducing both methane
and carbon emissions. The following
question was posed: What new partnerships,
business models and investments
are required to create and effectively implement
the right technologies?
It is reasonable to conclude that,
against the backdrop of rising concerns
about the impact of methane on the environment,
oil and gas businesses are
assessing how they can tap into technological
advances to address the new
emissions agenda. While the COP26
methane pledge reflected a country-level
commitment, in the end, mitigating
methane emissions will be driven by the
businesses that emit it. How might the
use of existing technology aid in reaching
their goal?
If the 2030 target is to be achieved,
industry players will have to explore
ways to accelerate the process, and this
entails a balancing act. According to
12 MARCH/APRIL 2022 | GasProcessingNews.com
Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister
of Industry and Advanced Technology
for the United Arab Emirates and
Managing Director and Group CEO of
the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC),
the global demand for oil and
gas following the COVID-19 pandemic
has increased to the point where the
world will have to invest around $600
B/yr by 2030 to keep up with the anticipated
demand. However, society cannot
expect to unplug the energy systems of
today and to automatically switch to the
energy systems of tomorrow. Therefore,
to achieve the 2030 target, a pragmatic
approach is a must.
According to McKinsey & Company,
oil and gas operations account for
20%-25% of anthropogenic methane
emissions. If it is the responsibility of
operators to take the tangible steps required
to reduce emissions, then they
must be empowered with good data,
which is the foundation of robust decision-making.
The
question arises as to whether all
operators are making the most of existing
digital technology in the associated
arenas of monitoring, reliability and
maintenance to understand and manage
their methane emissions-related performance.
According to literature, up to
85% of methane emissions in the oil and
gas industry could be mitigated by 2030,
using existing technologies.1
There is a case to be made for putting
various pieces of the jigsaw puzzle
together to create a cohesive view. This
is a principle already embraced at the
authors' organization. The authors have
recognized that subsurface and topside
digital technologies can form part and
parcel of the same strategy.
Interactive petrophysics and correlation
tools can monitor anticipated
methane production levels, and, when
integrated with geological understanding,
these tools will equip the user with
the data required to shape and implement
mitigation measures for potential
corrosion risks and leaks at the wellbore
or caprock.
The authors' company's proprietary
software toola
ability, while other software toolsb
can deliver risk and relican
be
used to ensure that inspection and
maintenance work is focused, where
necessary, on countering potential fugitive
emissions from valves and other
critical pieces of infrastructure.
Using asset monitoring, reliability
and integrity technologies have a secondary
effect. They serve to help operators
minimize production losses, avert
unscheduled
downtime and reduce
risks. Additionally, these technologies
can also help to monitor and mitigate
methane emissions, enabling operators
to meet their sustainability goals.
Given the urgent need to address the
primary causes of anthropogenic input
to climate change, information sharing
should be imperative (e.g., frontline experiences
and lessons learned) between
organizations to aid in reaching net-zero
targets. This sharing of ideas and knowledge
(such as identifying gaps that can
be quickly closed by technological advances)
can only help operators reach
their emissions goals sooner. GP
NOTES
a Lloyd's Register RiskSpectrum software
b
Lloyd's Register AllAssets software
LITERATURE CITED
1
Jackson, R. B., et al., " Increasing anthropogenic
methane emissions arise equally from agriculture
and fossil fuel sources, " Environmental Research
Letters, 2020.
OZ RODRIGUEZ is the Head of Product GTM Strategy
with Lloyd's Register software.
CATRIONA PENMAN is a Geologist and an IC
Product Manager with Lloyd's Register software.

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