40% of Permian wells leak methane
Environmental Defense Fund says it found ‘significant plumes’ of gas
Even as the oil industry and environmental officials try to rein in the release of methane, it continues to leak from oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin, according to data collected by an environmental group.
The Environmental Defense Fund recently reported that 40 percent of nearly 900 oil and gas wells surveyed in the Permian Basin by helicopter Nov. 12-21 were emitting “significant plumes” of methane, a potent greenhouse gas 84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at warming the planet.
The flyover found emissions from about a third of surveyed pipelines and about half from processing and transportation operations. It also found that a third of smaller wells had emissions that persisted for days, according to the EDF, which has been surveying oil fields in West Texas with a infrared camera mounted to a helicopter since 2019.
“There are dozens of reasons why a site might be emitting high levels of methane. The only way to know what’s going on and to ensure things are operating properly is to regularly check sites for problems that lead to massive pollution,” said David Lyon, a senior scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund. “Our research has consistently shown that leaks can and do happen at all types of facilities — including smaller, leakprone wells — and the best way to control emissions is to find and fix them.”
The Texas Oil and Gas Association, an industry group, questioned the Environmental Defense Fund’s findings, and questioned the study’s methodology and data.
“Reducing methane emissions is a top priority for the Texas oil and natural gas industry, and we’ve seen dramatic improvements as a result of companies’ investments in technology and innovation such as handheld optical imaging cameras, drones, leak detection and repair techniques, and replacing pneumatic valves with zero-emission pneumatic controllers,” TXOGA President Todd Staples said. “Texas has one of the lowest flaring rates of large oil and gas producing states in the country with an average rate of flaring that has remained significantly less than 2 percent for more
than two years, and initiatives like the Texas Methane and Flaring Coalition and Environmental Partnership have brought operators together with the shared mission to reduce methane emissions even further.”
The oil and gas industry faces mounting pressure from government regulators, environmental groups and investors to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the face of growing concerns over climate change. In particular, oil companies and their regulators are focused on cutting the release of methane.
The Environmental Protection Agency last month proposed new regulations that would require oil and gas companies to regularly find and fix methane emissions at facilities built before 2015. At smaller facilities, operators would be required to conduct a onetime inspection, according to the proposed regulation, part of the Biden administration’s goal to reduce methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030. The EPA is accepting public comments on the proposal through Jan. 31.
For their part, oil companies say they are aiming to cut emissions by reducing routine flaring — the burning of natural gas produced during drilling. They have employed drones to detect leaks and turned to electricity to power production operations. Exxon Mobil, the nation’s largest oil company, recently said it would use two dozen satellites to detect methane leaks in the Permian Basin.
Flaring in the U.S., meanwhile, has been reduced to its lowest level since at least 2012, according to Norwegian energy research firm Rystad, falling to about 390 million cubic feet per day in September from a high of more than 1.4 billion cubic feet per day in June 2019.
Declines were measured across all U.S. shale fields, but were sharpest in the Bakken of North Dakota and the Permian, which straddles eastern New Mexico and West Texas, according to Rystad. The average flaring intensity among the 50 largest natural gas producers in the Permian was 1.6 percent in the third quarter, compared with 2.5 percent in the first half of the year and 3.2 percent in 2020. Flaring intensity is the amount of natural gas burned per barrel of oil produced.
“While the reduction in the Bakken was largely in line with expectations, based on our analysis of satellite data, the rate of change in the Permian is surprising,” said Artem Abramov, head of shale research at Rystad Energy. “The decline in flaring activity across the board is a concrete sign that best practices are spreading beyond just large producers to small, privately owned operators too, and this trend looks likely to continue in the foreseeable future.”