Drillers volunteer to cut methane emissions
Many of the country’s largest oil and gas drillers said Tuesday they will voluntarily reduce emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, even as the Trump administration takes steps to roll back existing environmental regulations targeting those emissions.
Under a voluntary program announced by the American Petroleum Institute, 26 companies would begin implementing new standards that include employing advanced leak detection technology and replacing older equipment prone to leaks across their U.S. operations.
Among the participants are oil majors such as Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell, and indepdendents such as Anadarko Petroleum Corp. of The Woodlands and EOG Resources of Houston.
“The industry is proactively doing something to enhance the improvements we’ve already made,” said Greg Guidry, executive vice president for unconventional production at Shell.” There’s no question by targeting the areas that joint industry and EPA studies have shown to be the most problematic for emissions, we can continue to improve.”
The announcement comes as governments in Europe and across much of the world clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions to try to prevent the worst consequences of climate change, which scientists say is likely to cause oceans to rise and weather patterns to shift.
President Donald Trump has bucked that movement, moving to pull the U.S. from the 2015 Paris climate accord, signed by almost every other country in the world. At the same time, his administration has worked to roll back climate change regulations put in place by former President Barack Obama, including a regulation adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency that would force operators of new oil and gas wells to take greater steps to con-
trol methane leaks.
Guidry said the voluntary program developed by API would go one step further than the EPA regulation, in that it would include not just new wells but existing wells — something the Obama administration was pursuing when Trump took office in January.
“There’s a heck of a lot more existing facilities,” he said. “Most companies today, when they’re building new facilities, are already using the latest technology.”
But the announcement did little to assuage criticism of the oil and gas industry for its longstanding fights against climate change regulation, including its determined opposition to the Obama administration’s efforts to lower methane emissions.
“This is nothing but a cynical ploy for public goodwill as API continues to work with Donald Trump and (EPA Administrator) Scott Pruitt to undermine the effective, common-sense methane safeguards that are required by law,” said Kelly Martin, director of the Sierra Club’s anti-fossil fuel campaign. “This voluntary program falls far short of what is necessary to protect our communities and our climate from the dangers of methane pollution, and API knows it.”
For now at least, the impact of the program will be limited by participation. Even with big names like Exxon Mobil on board, the majority of U.S. oil and gas production continues to come from companies that produce less than $5 million worth of oil and gas each year, a group largely absent from names published by API.
Mark Berg, executive vice president of corporate operations at Pioneer Natural Resources, said the hope was this initial group would provide an example to other companies by publishing data on the program and sharing best practices.
“In the year ahead, the environmental partnership will be working to build on this sold foundation,” he said. “There continues to be a tremendous amount of focus on methane emissions.”