A new, comprehensive study prepared for the American Petroleum Institute and the American Natural Gas Association shows that methane emissions from U.S. natural gas production were half what had been previously estimated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
Both API and ANGA had complained that a previous survey by the EPA used a limited data set taken from a sample that was never intended for developing nationwide emissions estimates.
The new study, conducted by URS Corp. and the Levon Group, analyzed data from nearly 20 percent of all U.S. natural gas producing wells, a sample size more than 10 times larger than EPA’s.
“This study confirms that EPA’s estimates on emissions from operations are vastly exaggerated,” said Tom Amontree, executive vice president at ANGA.
Study ‘critically important’
Howard Feldman, API’s director of regulatory and scientific affairs, told reporters June 4 that the new emissions information is “critically important” because it allows oil and gas companies, citizens, and regulators to gauge the industry’s impact on the environment and allows companies to measure continued efforts to reduce their environmental footprint.
“The API-ANGA emissions estimate, which is half EPA’s estimate, is more accurate because it’s based on emissions from 91,000 wells operated by 20 companies, distributed over a much broader geographic area,” he said, noting that EPA’s data were derived from only 8,800 wells.
Feldman added: “The fact that these emissions are much less than earlier, more limited estimates and the fact that operators are already working to reduce emissions from natural gas production is good news for the future of U.S. natural gas development and the game changing benefits of job creation and economic growth that will come with it.”
Specifically, the study found that methane emissions from natural gas operations such as liquids unloading, a technique used to remove water and other liquids from the well bore to improve the flow of natural gas, are 86 percent lower than EPA estimated.
In addition, the study shows that methane emissions from refractured wells, a technique used to prolong production of an existing gas-producing well, are 72 percent lower than EPA estimates.
50% lower than EPA
Overall, the study finds that greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas production are as much as 50 percent lower than figures used by EPA.
The 91,000 U.S. natural gas wells analyzed in the API-ANGA study represent nearly one-fifth, or approximately 18.8 percent, of U.S. wells. The survey was undertaken after EPA, in 2011, introduced new calculation methods for estimating the amount of methane emissions from natural gas operations. EPA claimed that under new rules, as much as 1.7 million tons of methane emissions per year would be cut from the natural gas industry, which EPA maintained emitted 40 percent of the methane released in the United States.
However, the new figures are so much lower that the natural gas industry shifted from being the largest contributor of methane emissions in the United States to being the second-largest source. According to the study, the cattle industry is the new top methane producing industry in the country through “enteric fermentation,” a process of digestion.
Methane emissions data derived from EPA’s inventory were used to support the agency’s recently adopted oil and gas well completion rule, which turned out to be less stringent than many industry representatives had anticipated.
EPA’s completion rule
The oil and gas industry had feared that EPA would impose an immediate drilling moratorium, effectively halting well completions until companies could employ the necessary technology. Instead, EPA gave drillers more than two years to come up with the required technology to reduce emissions during the well fracturing stage, and also allowed them to burn off residual gas. Much of the air pollution from wells is vented when the well transitions from drilling to production, a three-to 10-day process referred to as “completion.”
“The industry is voluntarily reducing its environmental footprint and not waiting for regulatory mandates or incentives to continue to make progress,” Feldman said. “The technology and equipment used to reduce emissions were created by the industry, and companies are already implementing those technologies in locations where it is most effective.”
Feldman said that the bottom line is that now, for the first time, good baseline data is available regarding the emissions generated by natural gas production in the United States.
EPA to be informed
“We are releasing our data publicly and will make sure that EPA has this information as well,” he added. “We look forward to working with the agency as we continue to try to refine and improve what we’ve developed.”
He said the fact that the emissions are much less than earlier, more limited estimates and the fact that operators are already working to reduce emissions from natural gas production is good news for the future of U.S. natural gas development, “and the game changing benefits of job creation and economic growth that will come with it.”
“For both power generation and transportation, natural gas is a far cleaner alternative,” Amontree said. “This study confirms for policymakers and the public that the production process does not negate those benefits. Equally important, natural gas companies are continually striving to further reduce their environmental impact.”
Proposal could cost $1.6B
Meanwhile, Western Energy Alliance released a full economic analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s proposed rule to regulate hydraulic fracturing on public lands. John Dunham & Associates, a respected economics firm, prepared the study. The Alliance said BLM’s proposed rule will impose a cost to society of at least $1.499 billion and as much as $1.615 billion annually.
“States have been successfully regulating fracking for generations, including on federal lands, with no incident of contamination that would necessitate redundant federal regulation,” said Kathleen Sgamma, the Alliance’s vice president of government and public affairs. “BLM’s proposed fracking rule would impose a huge cost on society by diverting $1.615 billion annually away from investment in job creation into redundant regulation.”
The proposed regulations also lack a scientific basis and a thorough economic analysis as required for major rules that exceed the $100 million cost threshold, Sgamma noted.
