Is it fair that climate change scientists have laid much of the blame for global warming at the feet of the oil and gas industry? Perhaps. A recent EHS Today article notes that the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) states that “[o]ne sector – oil and natural gas – is responsible for almost one-third of warming from greenhouse gases.”
One of those greenhouse gases – methane – has come under greater scrutiny in recent years. In fact, the EPA dedicated nearly 100 actions in 2023 to reducing methane emissions, “including the finalization of an EPA rule that will yield an 80% reduction in methane emissions from covered oil and gas facilities.”
Reducing methane emissions comes with a cost. Not every oil and gas company is the size of Exxon or Chevron. Smaller oil and gas companies faced with a mandate to cut methane pollution may not have the means available to incorporate the latest technologies. Fortunately, help is on the way.
“[T]he EPA and the Department of Energy announced on June 21 that they will fund $850 million worth of projects that can monitor, measure, quantify and reduce these emissions…This funding, which comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, is meant to specifically help small oil and natural gas operators by having them access technology that can reduce emissions. This program is part of an overall…Methane Emissions Reduction Program.”
In a statement, EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said, “These investments from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda will drive the deployment of available and advanced technologies to better understand where methane emissions are coming from. That will help us more effectively reduce harmful pollution, tackle the climate crisis and create good-paying jobs.”
EHS Today identified four primary objectives of this new funding:
- “Help small operators significantly reduce methane emissions from oil and natural gas operations, using commercially available technology solutions for methane emissions monitoring, measurement, quantification and mitigation.”
- “Accelerate the repair of methane leaks from low-producing wells and the deployment of early-commercial technology solutions to reduce methane emissions from new and existing equipment such as natural gas compressors, gas-fueled engines, associated gas flares, liquids unloading operations, handling of produced water and other equipment leakage.”
- “Improve communities’ access to empirical data and participation in monitoring through multiple installations of monitoring and measurement technologies while establishing collaborative relationships between equipment providers and communities.”
- “Enhance the detection and measurement of methane emissions from oil and gas operations at regional scale, while ensuring nationwide data consistency through the creation of collaborative partnerships. These partnerships will span the country’s oil and gas-producing regions and draw in oil and natural gas owners and operators, universities, environmental justice organizations, community leaders, unions, technology developers, Tribes, state regulatory agencies, non-governmental research organizations, federally funded research and development centers and DOE’s National Laboratories.”
What does this new funding mean for smaller oil and gas companies? They will need to invest money, time, and effort to reduce methane pollution by improving ongoing maintenance in the oil and gas sector. To get the job done correctly, these companies will also need highly skilled workers with hands-on experience with real equipment.
For oil and gas companies looking to improve the skill level of their workers, a thorough review of training systems is a great place to start. Do employees have access to hands-on training with actual components they’ll encounter on the job? If not, partnering with established companies to provide industrial-quality training systems that will stand the test of time will help ensure a competent workforce. Be sure to check out DAC Worldwide’s variety of hands-on oil & gas training systems that feature the real-world components workers will encounter in the field!
