Study Finds Low Methane Emissions From Natural Gas Collection and Processing Facilities
From an API press release:
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The vast majority of natural gas collection and processing facilities have methane leak rates of less than 1 percent, according to a major field study led by Colorado State University that examined 114 gathering facilities and 16 processing plants across 13 states.
“The industry has every incentive to reduce emissions and sell more natural gas to consumers,” said API Senior Director of Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Howard Feldman. “We’re making remarkable progress reducing emissions, and this progress will continue as operators detect and seal leaks – including leaks from the few high emitting sites identified in the study. Burdensome new regulations would only interfere with our progress reducing emissions and jeopardize production of the clean-burning natural gas that has helped drive U.S. carbon emissions to near 20-year lows.”
Of 130 facilities the study examined, 101 had methane loss rates below 1 percent, according to the study.Read the entire news release by clicking here.
Methane emissions from oil and gas production declined by 38 percent from 2005 to 2012, and methane emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas wells have plummeted 73 percent since 2011, according to EPA data.
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