Big Oil warms to efforts to curb climate change
Just writing about global warming and its connections to the oil and gas sector will elicit plenty of angry emails denying its existence or downplaying the impact humans have on the environment.
But energy companies are — slowly — taking more steps to combat climate change. What’s yet to be proven is whether this momentum will amount to more actions than words.
The latest effort came last week when Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, BP and other large energy companies pledged to reduce methane emissions, acknowledging that global warming is a major problem. Methane, which escapes during oil and gas production, is a potent greenhouse gas, which traps heat in the earth’s atmosphere.
The companies said they’re coming together to address climate change so they can continue to provide cleaner-burning efficient natural gas power to the world. But they’re not adopting any specific goals to reduce methane emissions. Still, it’s something for energy companies to say they plan to work toward “addressing global climate change,” even if their foremost priorities remain oil and gas production and profits.
The world needs oil and gas — at least for now and the immediate years ahead — but it also needs to get its energy more sustainably as global temperatures continue to rise.
Methane is the primary component of natural gas, and surging gas production from the shale boom has increased methane emissions through most of the past 15 years. The energy sector — including oil and gas production and coal mining — is the largest source of U.S. methane emissions, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
Several big oil companies have shifted toward greater natural gas production in recent years, betting on gas as a cleaner-burning bridge fuel. Methane emissions, however, threaten to soil natural gas’ cleaner reputation.
The companies adopted five “guiding principles.” They pledged to continually reduce methane emissions through a variety of means; to push for improvements to pipelines and power plants; to improve the accuracy of emissions data; to advocate for sound policies and regulations that reduce emissions without eliminating gas production; and to increase public transparency.
Exxon Mobil, despite a sketchy track record in the past on environmental issues, has launched a new effort to reduce methane emissions and leaks from its U.S. oil and gas operations. Through its shale drilling subsidiary, XTO Energy, Exxon Mobil is taking steps such as phasing out natural gas-powered equipment in favor of compressed air and installing more leak detection technology for pipelines. XTO is the nation’s largest holder of natural gas reserves. The U.S. has reached an all-time high for gas production.
“We need to minimize our impact on the environment,” XTO President Sara Ortwein said. “Focusing on emissions reductions — and here with methane — is one more step.”
One inadvertent threat is West Texas’ booming Permian Basin, where nearly every major U.S. energy producer is drilling for oil. The Permian’s hottest new areas are proving to have more associated gas production than expected, and some companies don’t have enough uses for it, meaning more methane may be burned off in the atmosphere.
That’s partly why pipeline companies plan to build more natural gas projects for the Permian.
“We need to minimize our impact on the environment. Focusing on emissions — and here with methane — is one more step.” Sara Ortwein, XTO president