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Environmental group launches project to measure Permian Basin methane emissions

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Environmental group launches project to measure Permian Basin methane emissions

The Environmental Defense Fund will partner with U.S. universities and tech companies to measure the scope of planet-warming methane emissions from the Permian Basin, the nation's most productive shale oil and gas region.

The yearlong research program will deploy emissions monitoring equipment throughout the Permian footprint, which spans southeastern New Mexico and vast swaths of western Texas. The goal is to create a database of information on the scale and location of methane emissions that can guide government policy and corporate decisionmaking.

"The data gathered here will better define the scope of the methane problem in the Permian and provide much-needed information so that companies, public officials and local communities can better manage emissions," Matt Watson, vice president for energy at Environmental Defense Fund, said in an Oct. 2 press release.

SNL Image

"Gathering accurate and reliable methane emissions data in the Permian Basin is key to developing a robust and science-based emissions reduction strategy," New Mexico Environment Department Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said in a statement.
Source: AP Photo

The tremendous surge in Permian oil production in recent years has yielded a lot of associated natural gas, presenting producers with a dilemma in a region with too little pipeline capacity to bring all of that gas to market. The widespread practice of flaring, or burning off gas during oil production, as well as methane venting have added to worries for environmental groups and other members of the public about regional air pollution and the Permian's contribution to climate change.

Methane, the primary component of natural gas and a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, can escape into the atmosphere along many points in hydrocarbon production, transportation and processing.

However, the scope of methane emissions from the Permian remains uncertain. The Environmental Defense Fund project would aim to provide more accurate estimates by building a network of sensors perched on towers to measure basin-wide emissions, while also deploying a fleet of methane-detecting vehicles to assess site-specific concentrations.

The project will use remote sensing technologies and emissions quantification algorithms in order to build the database and map emissions, similar to the methods that the Environmental Defense Fund and Google Earth Outreach have employed in past projects. The Environmental Defense Fund will make the platform public and publish analyses on trends gleaned from the data. The environmental group expected field measurements to begin in November and anticipated the first data release in early 2020.

The organization's partners include Scientific Aviation, a provider of emissions detection technology, as well as Pennsylvania State University and the University of Wyoming, which will stand up the tower network and manage the leak-sensing fleet, respectively. Scientists from the University of Michigan, McGill University and Stanford University will serve as science advisers, and the project's work will be submitted for peer review.

The Environmental Defense Fund announced the initiative one month after the Trump administration moved to roll back Obama-era limits on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. It comes at a time when the natural gas industry, historically seen as part of the solution to climate change, faces scrutiny often reserved for the oil and coal sectors.

The publication of methane emissions information could generate additional criticism of the industry, but some of the biggest oil and gas companies have acknowledged the image problem posed by fugitive methane and sought to get ahead of public opinion. Oil majors, such as ExxonMobil, and midstream partners for U.S. gas drilling leader EQT Corp. have opposed Trump's rollback.