How Much Methane is Flared by Natural Gas? The American Petroleum Institute Reveals That Flaring in North Dakota and Montana Can Help Reduce Climate Warming Emissions
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is also a byproduct of oil drilling. Flaring is a way to convert unsellable gas into compounds such as carbon dioxide, which still cause global warming but are less harmful in the near-term. Flares are supposed to eliminate 98% of methane that passes through them and so is the default amount used when estimating emissions.
But a new study published in the journal Science Thursday found that the process is not eliminating nearly as much methane, a greenhouse gas many times more potent than carbon dioxide, as assumed.
They found that the flaring in these locations only converted about 91% of methane released from the ground into other compounds. Flares that weren’t lit and which were releasing methane directly into the atmosphere, was a small part of that. The study doesn’t investigate why some flares release excess methane.
She and other researchers took more than a dozen flights between 2020 and 2021, to compare the emissions produced by flaring in North Dakota and Montana with those in Texas and New Mexico. The group sampled more than 300 individual flares and took over 600 readings, representing a significant increase in the amount of real word data from these sources.
The same amount of climate-warming emissions could be reduced if we were to get to the bottom of that and make it more efficient.
“Member companies are prioritizing emissions reductions and are taking action,” said Cole Ramsey, American Petroleum Institute’s vice president of upstream policy, in a statement. Nearly half of the industry voluntarily reduced how much they flared as a function of how much was produced, a measure called flaring intensity, according to the group.
Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council, wrote in a statement that his group could not verify the information in the peer-reviewed study because “each well in the Bakken has unique characteristics, but added, “We are extremely proud of our gas capture success in North Dakota.”
The Environmental Defense Fund: Reduction of Methane Emissions is a Step Towards Reversing Climate Change in the United States
“There will always be some flaring that occurs,” says Jon Goldstein, senior director, Regulatory & Legislative Affairs at the Environmental Defense Fund, calling the practice a “necessary evil.”
But he says he hopes this new information will encourage the Biden Administration to adopt more regulations on the practice, as it weighs a new rule to force oil and gas companies to clean up their methane pollution. The US is in the top five countries for how much fossil fuel flares according to the World Bank.
There is an American climate scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund who provides scientific guidance on climate-related work. The views expressed in this commentary are the author’s own. Read more opinion at CNN.
New findings from my colleagues and I at the Environmental Defense Fund suggest that immediate action to reduce methane emissions, along with drastic cuts in CO2, could help preserve Arctic summer sea ice through 2100 and beyond. This is a major milestone for the climate that could help preserve habitat for wildlife and stave off increase in warming.
Reducing methane emissions is the fastest, easiest and cheapest thing we can do to immediately slow the pace of climate change. Capturing all that methane could also help stabilize energy markets. If we captured methane escaping through leaks and flaring at US oil and gas sites, we would be able to meet half the gas supply of the US committed to Europe.
A new subsidiary of the Environmental Defense Fund is going to launch a satellite with the help of a rocket. It will expose emissions data in higher resolution than ever before. We will be able to see whether emitters are living up to their promises.
“We must lead by example when it comes to tackling methane pollution — one of the biggest drivers of climate change,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan, who also is in Egypt for the climate talks. New technology will flourish while protecting people and the planet according to the new stronger standards.
Transformational technology is making this opportunity possible, ushering in a new era of evidence-based accountability and transparency, which is exactly what we need to face down the climate challenge.
Biden-Methane-Emissions Enhanced Per-Hadron Rule (Epa Rules): What Can the American Economy Tell Us?
Biden was going to announce on Friday a supplemental rule cracking down on emissions of methane, which is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes a significant amount to global warming and packs a stronger short-term punch than even carbon dioxide.
The new rule goes a step further and takes aim at all drilling sites, including smaller wells that emit less than 3 tons of methane per year. Small wells are not usually checked for leaks after an initial inspection.
Ali Zaidi, the White House national climate adviser, said Friday at the climate negotiation in Egypt that the Biden administration will be relentless in its pursuit of emissions wherever they can be found.
Regan said that their regulatory approach was very aggressive from a timing and stringency standpoint. More than 80% of the energy waste should be prevented by the old and new rules.
Leakage from wells and pipelines is why former Vice President Al Gore and others call natural gas “a bridge to nowhere.” Gore told The Associated Press that a 2 to 3% methane leak negates the climate advantage of methane gas. And, tragically, the wildcatters that do most of the hydrological fracturing do not pay attention to the methane leakage. You have leaks in the use of gas, as well as in the Process of Liquefied Natural Gas, which includes leaks in the pipelines and the use.
Biden has repeatedly criticized major oil companies for making record-setting profits in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine while refusing to help lower prices at the pump for the American people. The Democratic president suggested last week that he will look to Congress to impose tax penalties on oil companies if they don’t invest some of their record-breaking profits to lower costs for American consumers.
Studies show that small wells produce less oil and gas than larger sites, but that they still emit a lot of methane.
“We can’t leave 50% of the problem on the table and hope that we get the reductions we need to get and protect local communities from pollution,” said Jon Goldstein, senior director of regulatory affairs for oil and gas at the Environmental Defense Fund.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/11/11/1136061205/biden-methane-emissions-epa-rules-climate-change-gas-prices
New rules on methane emissions from the U.S. and the oil & gas liquor market: a no-french proposal
The oil industry has generally welcomed direct federal regulation of methane emissions, preferring a single national standard to a hodgepodge of state rules.