American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2019 - 33

Liaison Committee

Methane Analysis Seeks To Dive Deep
By Corinne Westeman
Special Correspondent
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO.-Regardless of their individual perspectives
about global climate change, advised Liaison Committee of Cooperating Oil &
Gas Associations Chairman Mike Elyea,
the country's oil and gas producers must
communicate a desire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
To that end, the Independent Petroleum Association of America plans to
adopt a position on the subject, said
Elyea, senior vice president of Burk
Royalty Co. in Wichita Falls, Tx., at
Liasion's June 26 meeting at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, and he urged
the committee members to embrace a
similar proactive approach.
"We can argue the data all we want,"
Elyea said. "Some of us in this room
are old enough to remember that we
had a huge cold spell in the late '70s.
Everybody thought we were going into
a new ice age . . . I don't think any of us
have lived long enough to see these cycles, but the bus has already left the
station regarding public sentiment with
regard to climate change."
As for what the industry can do about
GHGs, Liaison heard from Richard Bowers of GSI Environmental, who discussed
his firm's search for producers to participate in a study of methane emissions
from low-production oil and gas wells.
The study will collect data to support no
specific agenda, he indicated, but aims to
inform sound policymaking.
Better Data
According to a July 10 draft of the
Data Source Status Assessment Report
and Master Workplan, the study comes in
the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's June 2016 decision to
amend federal New Source Performance
Standards to reduce methane emissions
from all oil and natural gas facilities, including low production well sites producing
no more than 15 barrels of oil equivalent
a day, which were exempt under earlier
drafts of the rule. Later, EPA amended
the NSPS further to require biennial and
annual emissions monitoring for low production sites, citing an assumption that
all wells' equipment types and component
counts are essentially the same.
As it stands, Bowers reasoned, the
problem with restoring the exemption for

marginal wells is that some studies indicate
their methane emissions are significant.
"But there are a lot of questions about
the quality of that data, and the representativeness of the data on a nationwide
basis," he acknowledged.
Therefore, Bowers continued, the study
aims to characterize the actual conditions
at low-producing well sites and quantify
aspects representative of the sites' emissions profiles. Overall, he said, the study
will compare the data of marginal wells
with that of more prolific ones.
Although GSI Environmental submitted a draft report to the U.S. Department of Energy on July 10, Bowers said,
the researchers still are seeking access
to both more well sites and participants.
The study also needs technical advisory
contributions, Bowers added, and currently is seeking input, buy-in and feedback from regulatory agencies and academic researchers as well. While DOE
has provided about half the necessary
funds, the study needs supplemental
funding, he said.
Nationwide Application
While Bowers and his colleagues have
compiled preliminary data and conducted
a blind study of operators across the
country, he explained, the analysis really
should examine site-level data, which
along with equipment and component
specifics, also includes venting and flaring
activities. The study also will examine
how those factors differ between lowproduction oil wells versus their natural
gas counterparts, he said.
Doing so will achieve the critical function of accounting for all well site parameters and broaden understanding about
the factors that drive emissions, Bowers
considered. Depending on the circum-

stances, he acknowledged, it may prove
important to consider leak detection for
all such sights.
"If tanks are a driving source of emissions, you don't need an FLIR camera to
see that a thief hatch is open," Bowers
observed. "A lot of appropriate technologies might do just as well. Leak detection
and repair is not 'one-size-fits-all.'"
Ultimately, he advised, such analysis
seeks to gain an accurate view of the situation. "The idea is that we have really
representative and defensible results that
we can stand behind and (that will inform)
sound decisions," he continued. "It is not
trying to prove that these wells are or are
not a significant source of emissions. It's
to see what's what."
According to Bowers, information
from the blind survey involved 32 operators
that submitted well site characteristics
from 75,000 wells at 40,000 sites. Overall,
he suggested the responses seemed representative of the wider country, although
he said data from wet and dry gas and
light oil well sites predominated. Of the
producing areas for which there was no
data, he said the San Juan Basin/Four
Corners area, California and the Southeast
were the most prominent. While the field
team will measure data only from the
Northeast, Midwest and Rocky Mountain
areas, Bowers explained, the facilities
will represent a diversity of production
rates, site sizes and equipment volumes.
The Real Story
Along with information from lowproduction wells, Bowers said, the study
includes data from a handful of operators'
non-marginal wells for the sake of meaningful comparisons. Compared with their
marginal peers, nonmarginal wells' component count was at least 10 times greater

Richard Bowers of GSI Environmental (left) listens as Emily
Hague of the American Petroleum Institute details the draft onshore safety program concept
on which her organization is
working. During his remarks to
Liaison, Bowers discussed his
firm's search for producers to
participate in a study of methane
emissions from low-production
oil and gas wells and emphasized the link between reliable
data and sound public policy.

AUGUST 2019 33

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