US orders energy firms to cut down natural gas waste
WASHINGTON: The United States updated rules on Wednesday which it said would reduce the waste of natural gas, citing economic and environmental motives for the move.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said modernising the more than 40-year-old regulations would hold gas and oil companies accountable to avoid wasteful practices.
Natural gas is mainly composed of methane, which is responsible for about one-third of the warming from greenhouse gases occurring today.
“For decades, natural gas lost to venting and flaring on public lands has harmed our atmosphere and wasted taxpayer resources,” wrote US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on X.
“Today, (we) released our waste prevention rule — common sense climate action we can all be proud of.”
Under the rules, oil and gas companies will be held accountable to avoid wasteful practices and reduce natural gas leaks, the BLM said in a press release, adding that conserved gas would power American homes and industries. It said the reduction in waste was expected to generate more than $50 million in additional natural gas royalty payments to federal taxpayers and landowners.
Instances of venting and flaring — practices of releasing or burning excess natural gas — have more than doubled since the 1980s alongside a rise in energy production, the BLM said. The agency added that, between 2010 and 2020, total venting and flaring reported on federal and tribal onshore land represented enough natural gas to serve more than 675,000 homes.
“This rule represents a common sense, fair, and equitable solution to preventing waste that provides a level playing field for all of our energy-producing communities,” said the bureau’s director Tracy Stone-manning.
In December, the US Environmental Protection Agency issued its own rules to reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
The new standards sought to phase in a requirement to eliminate routine flaring of natural gas produced by oil wells and require comprehensive monitoring of methane leaks from wells and compression stations.
The EPA estimated it would prevent an estimated 58 million tonnes of methane emissions from 2024 to 2038, the equivalent of 1.5 billion metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. —
This rule represents a common sense, fair, and equitable solution to preventing waste that provides a level playing field for all of our energy-producing communities,
TRACY STONEMANNING The bureau’s director