Oil and Gas Environmental and Climate Partnerships: Tackling Methane
and VOC Leaks, Limiting Wastewater Spills, Developing Best Practices Standards,
and Using Best Available Technologies
In recent years several oil & gas environmental and
climate coalitions have sprung up to address environmental, climate, and public
relations issues. The Oil & Gas Climate
Initiative (OGCI), a voluntary group made up of CEOs, now represents about
30% of global oil & gas production with most large majors on board. Commitments
to greenhouse gas emissions reduction are featured. API’s The
Environmental Partnership is another group developing environmental
standards as is the Appalachian Basin based Center for Responsible Shale Development. ONE Future (short for Our
Nation’s Energy Future) is a coalition of 16 companies including some midstream
and utility companies. They have coordinated with the EPA and the DOE’s NETL to
curb methane and total greenhouse gas emissions.
The Center for Responsible Shale Development (CRSD) involves
oil and gas producers as well as environmental organizations. CRSD requires companies
to meet certification requirements and to recertify periodically which is
verified by a third party. CRSD is centered in and currently limited to the
Appalachian Basin.
According to their website CRSD “has created 15 forward
thinking, high performance standards focused on Air, Climate, Water, and Waste
— standards that often exceed state and federal requirements.” These standards
include effluent management and monitoring, water recycling requirements, surface
and groundwater protection plan, tracking water usage, double-lined containment
in pits and tanks and clean tank requirements, pre-drill baseline water testing
and local aquifer analysis, some post-well groundwater monitoring, chemical
disclosure, minimizing or discontinuing use of harmful chemicals where possible,
developing leak-proof drill pads, safety and emergency response plans, limited
flaring or venting of gas, documentation and reduction of engine emissions and
compressor emissions of VOCs, NOx, particulates, CO, and other pollutants, utilization
of controls and valves that limit ‘bleed-off’ and reduce emissions of methane
and VOCs from tanks and compressors, utilizing the most sustainable completion
practices, and emissions requirements for trucks hauling flowback water. They
have a detailed comparison of CRSD standards vs. federal standards and the standards
of three main Appalachian shale states (Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia) for
each criteria.
API’s The Environmental Partnership shows 52 member oil
& gas companies, including several majors and many large independent
companies. One of their goals is to improve the industry’s environmental
performance through standardization, collaboration, and learning. They have
standards similar to the CRSD standards for low-bleed pneumatic controllers, minimizing
emissions during liquids unloading, and leak detection and repair. They also
present workshops, field trips, and just had their first annual conference.
There are also other consortiums hosting conferences about environmental
aspects of energy production and consumption.
A recent report by DOE’s National Energy Technology Lab (NETL)
shows that members of the ONE Future coalition have very significantly reduced
methane emissions far below standards they initially set for 2025. This shows
that emissions reductions are happening quite successfully and feasibly. The
NETL utilizes ‘life cycle analysis of energy technology and pathways.’ The
report analyzed life cycle emissions from all phases of gas production
including production, gathering & boosting, processing, transmission/storage/blowdowns,
and distribution. In every category except distribution the ONE Future
companies had achieved significantly less emissions than the rest of companies
in the U.S. The reason is the addition of midstream and downstream utility
companies with lots of legacy assets that include outdated leaky cast iron pipe
which continues to be replaced but that replacement is slow-moving due to the
nature of distribution systems being in highly populated areas. The ONE Future
companies represent from 5-12% of U.S. natural gas production according to the
report. The report also offers insights for prioritizing abatement of emissions
sources according to both cost and product recovery. Some sources are
continuous (ie. leaks in pipelines) and some are episodic (ie. liquids
unloading and flaring). Life cycle analysis, inventory assessment, and cost
analysis all can suggest which leak repairs to prioritize.
Despite Trump administration efforts to rollback any federal
rules regarding oil & gas industry methane emissions there is still a
strong and successful push to decrease emissions. At some point this will likely
extend to legacy well owners which will be more of an economic burden on these
producers of marginal wells. As leak detection and repair technologies come
down in price it will become more economically feasible. It could even be wise
to offer some financial incentives or tax breaks to those legacy producer companies
who can show methane emissions reductions. I think this is important since if
methane emissions are tackled and reduced significantly, as has been done by
the ONE Future companies then that would make natural gas even more sustainable
as a bridge fuel toward the gradual and inevitable transition to renewables,
storage, electrification, and clean energy.
There are other partnerships and assessments involving academia,
environmental orgs like Environmental Defense Fund, and industry, that have
assessed leak detection needs and cost analysis, water management, spills and
containment and other environmental issues. The U.S. EPA, the DOE, and other
federal and state agencies are partnered in these assessments and studies.
References:
Working together to tackle climate risks – by Darren Woods, in Energy
Factor by ExxonMobil, Sept. 20, 2018
Exxon and Chevron join industry climate change group – by Ed Crooks, in
Financial Times, Sept. 20, 2018
Natural Gas Companies Plug Leaks, Easily Surpass 2025 Goal – by Darren
Barbee, in E & P Magazine, Nov. 25, 2018
www.responsibleshaledevelepment.org
(CRSD website)
www.theenvironmentalpartnership.org
(website of API’s The Environmental Partnership)
Industry Partnerships and Their Role in Reducing Natural Gas Supply
Chain Greenhouse Gas Emissions – by National Energy Technology Laboratory, May
1, 2018
