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New oil & gas industry air standards EPA’s proposed new air quality regulations target shale gas development, gas production & transmission, NGL production and oil storage Alan Bailey Petroleum News
On July 28 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued proposed new air emissions regulations for the oil and gas industry. The new regulations address reductions in the emissions of what are known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, as well as emissions of sulfur dioxide and toxic materials that cause cancer and other serious medical problems.
The EPA is inviting public comments on its proposals — under the terms of the Clean Air Act the agency must determine final rules by Feb. 28, 2012.
Hydraulic fracturing The proposals include for the first time emissions standards for hydraulic fracturing techniques of the type used in the development of shale gas wells. Companies using hydraulic fracturing in new or existing gas production wells would be required to install reduced emissions completions, also known as “green completions.” This type of completion uses technology that separates and captures gas and liquid hydrocarbons that would otherwise escape during the flow back of fracturing fluids and other materials. When gas separated in this way cannot be captured for production it would be flared, unless the flaring poses a safety hazard.
As well as reducing the emissions of VOCs, the use of green completions would reduce the emission of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, according to an EPA fact sheet.
Centrifugal compressors used to push natural gas through gas pipelines would require dry seal systems to limit VOC leaks, while reciprocating compressors would be subject to new maintenance requirements. Pneumatic controllers, operating in various types of gas processing and transmission system and typically using high-pressure natural gas, would become subject to VOC emissions limits. Operators of condensate and crude oil storage tanks above a certain throughput capacity would have to reduce VOC emissions from the tanks by 95 percent.
And new performance standards would apply to leak detection and repair requirements for natural gas processing plants and to sulfur dioxide emissions from plants of this type. EPA is also proposing changes to the standards for the emission of cancer-causing toxic materials from oil and gas production operations.
95 percent reduction According to the EPA fact sheet “the proposals would cut smog-forming volatile organic compound emissions by nearly one-fourth across the oil and gas industry, including a nearly 95 percent reduction in VOCs emitted from new and modified hydraulically fractured gas wells.”
And, by reducing air pollution while also causing industry to recover marketable material from its operations, the proposed rules would be extremely cost effective, the EPA fact sheet says.
“EPA estimates the combined annual costs of meeting the proposed requirements would be $754 million in 2015,” the fact sheet says. “The estimated value of the natural gas and condensate that would be made available for sale is $783 million — a net savings of $29 million when the rules are combined.”
Environmental organizations and public health groups have responded to the EPA action with enthusiasm.
“EPA’s proposed clean air protections are a trifecta: they reduce harmful air pollution, prevent waste of a domestic energy source, and payback the companies by preventing leaks and venting of natural gas, a valuable commodity,” said Ramon Alvarez, senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund.
“EPA understands that reducing air pollution from oil and gas not only protects public health, but prevents massive waste, namely of methane,” said Erik Schlenker-Goodrich, director of the Western Environmental Law Center’s climate and energy program. “This is a smart rule that will help ensure that the production of oil and gas resources is constrained within necessary limits as we make our urgent transition to truly clean energy from the sun, wind, and water.”
API reviewing Sabrina Fang, media relationships representative for the American Petroleum Institute, told Petroleum News in an Aug. 1 email that API will review the proposed rules to ensure that they do not inadvertently create unsafe operating conditions; that they are cost effective; that they provide new public health benefits; and that they do not stifle natural resource development.
API thinks that a minimum of six months are required to collect and analyze comments on the rules, a timeframe that would push the final rule decision beyond the currently scheduled date in February 2012, Fang said.
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