US gas industry group reports YOY decline in methane intensity in 2024

A coalition of natural gas companies reported a collective methane intensity of 0.280% in 2024, a 15.4% decrease compared to the previous year's emissions.

The coalition, Our Nation's Energy Future, known as ONE Future, presented the data in its eighth annual Methane Intensity Report, released Dec. 3, which revealed the calendar year 2024 methane emissions. The 39 companies that provided methane emissions numbers for 2024 reduced their overall methane intensity from 0.331% in 2023.

The US Environmental Protection Agency and the gas industry typically define methane intensity as the ratio of methane emissions to the amount of natural gas produced.

"The results demonstrate our ability to implement cost-effective measures to reduce emissions across the value chain, and that we don't have to choose between reducing emissions and providing access to the affordable natural gas Americans rely on every day," ONE Future Executive Director Jim Kibler said in a statement announcing the report.

Roughly 40% of the US natural gas value chain is represented by ONE Future's approximately 50 member companies. Gas companies formed ONE Future in 2014 with a goal to voluntarily reduce methane emissions across their value chain to 1% or less by 2025. The coalition has reached that 2025 target for the past eight years, but the number in the latest report is the lowest methane intensity members have reported. ONE Future said the study will help members further reduce methane emissions.

The largest decline in 2024 methane intensity came from the production segment, with a significant reduction in emissions from pneumatic devices, ONE Future said. The industry also reported emissions decreases from other equipment and activities across the segments of the gas industry. ONE Future splits the industry into five segments: production, gathering and boosting, processing, transmission and storage, and distribution.

ONE Future, in collaboration with consulting firm ICF International Inc., completed a cost study this year on methane emissions prevention, detection and abatement technology. Preliminary results showed progress "in deploying cost-effective solutions to reduce emissions," according to the report.