The oil and gas industry deliberately vent millions of pounds of natural gas and other toxins into the air every year.
In December 2023, Reuters reported on the new proposed methane regulations for the U.S. oil and gas industry explaining that, “Methane tends to leak into the atmosphere undetected from drill sites, gas pipelines and other oil and gas equipment.”
This is typical of how the media reports the situation and how the oil and gas industry talks about the problem, using the word “leak,” as if these emissions were occasional accidents.
“Fossil fuel firms must plug methane leaks to meet climate targets, warns watchdog,” the Guardian reported. And from New Scientist: “Methane leaks from U.S. oil and gas are triple government estimates.”
While this is certainly what the oil industry wants you to believe, the facts show that the majority of methane pollution from the U.S. oil and gas industry results from intentional venting and flaring, which are not accidents but part of normal oil field operations.
There is no doubt that the industry experiences methane leaks when pipelines and storage facilities fail. These accidents are often caused by the lack of investment in safety.
“A normal part of oilfield equipment operation”
However, most of the methane released from oil and gas production is due to the industry’s idea of “best practices.” This is what S&P Global refers to as “a normal part of oilfield equipment operation.”
In June, Ceres, a non-profit working with businesses to accelerate the transition to a cleaner and more sustainable economy, released its 2024 update for Benchmarking Methane. It found that only 6% of methane pollution from oil and gas production was from “fugitive” emissions, aka leaks “due to malfunctions, accidents or system upsets.”
Oil and gas production greenhouse gas emissions by source. Credit: Ceres
This analysis makes it clear that the majority of methane emissions do not come from “leaks” but from standard operating procedures in the oil and gas industry.
“Associated Gas” makes it worse
A key driver of the methane emissions problem in the U.S. is the fact that more and more of the gas produced here is coming from oil wells. (It’s known as “associated gas” because it is associated with oil production.)
In the major shale basins where oil production rapidly increased, from the Bakken to the Permian, the oil industry didn’t build the necessary infrastructure to capture this gas as they were targeting oil. So it has been flared or vented instead. This is easy to see in satellite images from SkyTruth.
Image: Flaring map for June 26, 2024. Credit: Skytruth
The oil industry is permitted to dump its pollution into the atmosphere we breathe via venting and flaring at no cost and, so far, with no regulation, even while it is making billions producing record amounts of oil, and despite conclusive scientific data finding that it’s warming the atmosphere and impacting life around the globe. And yet it is unlikely that the industry will invest in more gas capturing infrastructure once the shale oil fields are in decline.
The Bakken is well below its peak production achieved in 2020, as is the Eagle Ford in Texas, which peaked in 2015. The Permian is the only American oil field that has still been increasing, but production has now plateaued and is expected to peak in the near future.
To make matters worse, as shale oil fields age they produce a lot more gas with the oil.
These increases in gas-to-oil ratio (GOR) mean the oil industry in places like the Permian are emitting more and more gas as wells are producing less oil. This does not inceltivize them to change.
Graphic: Associated natural gas production has tripled since 2018 in top three Permian oil plays. Source: EIA
It’s a Physics Problem
There are economic situations in which it is in the best interests of oil producers to get rid of methane via flaring or simply venting it. There are issues with underfunded regulatory agencies being able to enforce the watered down regulations on the books.
Theoretically these issues could be addressed by governments at the state and federal levels, but they are not, and that is unlikely to change.
However, no one can change the laws of physics, which is why there is currently no way to produce oil and gas without methane emissions.
When new oil wells are drilled, gas is flared and vented as allowed by regulations and permits. A 2023 study in the journal of Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics used satellite observations of methane emissions and found that new well production correlated to increased methane emissions in the Permian.
But it isn’t just new well production. The process of pumping a mixture of oil and gas out of the ground and putting it in steel pipes and tanks requires that the gas be vented to control pressure and protect the equipment from explosion. This is the case for production tanks that are designed to hold liquids and not gas in the oil fields, as well as for the pipelines that transport gas to where it is liquefied by cooling it to -260° Fahrenheit so that it can be exported as “liquified natural gas” or LNG.
This optical gas imaging (OGI) video shows a hydrocarbon gas (methane and volatile organic compounds) releasing from the pressure relief valves (PRVs) on top of storage tanks. PRVs are required “to protect equipment” from explosion when the volatile gasses create pressure. But the result is they release substantial greenhouse gasses. Oilfield Witness uses a Teledyne FLIR G620 optical gas imaging camera and all videos are peer-reviewed by a Level III thermographer.
Heat makes this problem worse as it causes more gas to become more volatile in the tanks which increases the pressure. And it is hot in Texas. According to oil industry analysts Enervus, last summer’s June heatwave in the Permian resulted in the highest rates of gas flaring in three years.
Using our atmosphere as a dump
A joint investigation by Inside Climate News (ICN) and the Texas Tribune last year reported that “companies in five counties vented millions of pounds of natural gas and other toxins into the air.” Targa Resources alone, one of the largest midstream companies in the Permian Basin, released more than 500,000 pounds of toxins into the air during 17 reported events over a week-long period of extreme heat,” the investigation found. Targa said, “‘high ambient temperature’ had caused an increase in pressure, leading operators to let gas escape from mid-morning until after midnight the next day.”
“Companies in five counties vented millions of pounds of natural gas and other toxins into the air”
Andrew Wheat, research director for Texans for Public Justice, said Targa has made campaign contributions to oil and gas regulators on the Texas Railroad Commission, who have also traded the company’s stock. “Our state oil and gas agency is captured by the companies it is supposed to oversee,” Wheat said. “These conflicts of interest lead to long term sustained negligence by companies who know that there is no state agency that will penalize them for breaking the rules.”
This optical gas imaging video shows a “blowdown” releasing “pipeline-quality” methane gas and other toxins into the atmosphere from a compressor at the Targa Midstream Sand Hills Complex in Ward County Texas in March, 2024. Operators use blowdowns to empty a system of gas so they can do maintenance or to reduce the risk of explosion, especially during heat waves. The price of methane gas that day was negative $1.55/mmBtu, meaning that it would cost an operator to ship it through a pipeline. So instead, operators might choose to vent the gas, using our atmosphere as a dump.
Extreme heat means more methane
The World Bank’s 2024 Global Flaring Report also highlights the link between extreme heat and increased methane flaring in the U.S.
“In the United States, the flaring volumes and intensity increases occurred predominantly in the shale-producing regions of the Permian and Eagle Ford. In the Permian, the increases were a result of the pressures put on the energy systems by unusually hot weather and ongoing maintenance of, and reliability issues with, midstream infrastructure.”
Source: EIA
Just as the gas-to-oil ratio continues to increase, we also are experiencing record heat. This will mean more venting and flaring of methane, as the laws of physics cannot be denied. We have been documenting these types of releases for years with optical gas imaging cameras. These are not accidental “leaks.” They are one of the most destructive among many destructive aspects of our fossil fuel dependence.
Record heat (…) will mean more venting and flaring of methane, as the laws of physics cannot be denied
We are facing a methane emergency. There are plenty of loopholes in the regulations requiring oil and gas producers to eliminate methane emissions. But there are no such loopholes in the laws of physics. That’s why the only solution to stop methane emissions from oil and gas production and transportation is to rapidly transition to clean energy and phase out the oil and gas industry completely. The laws of physics, nature, health and economics are demanding action now.
