Miles SmithProjects to tackle methane emissions from the oil and gas sector have been awarded nearly $850 million in grant funding made available through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy.
Seven of the projects are in Colorado and Wyoming, which are in EPA Region 8 – an area that is impacted by high methane levels from the oil and gas industry, landfills and other sources.
“Our region is home to some of the largest-producing oil and gas operations in the country, and unfortunately many of our neighboring communities are overburdened with polluted air,” EPA Regional Administrator KC Becker said. “These grants will ensure the reduction of harmful greenhouse gases and volatile organic compounds while allowing operators to upgrade equipment and employ an underserved workforce.”
The funding will help reduce, monitor, measure, and quantify methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, the EPA said.
The oil and natural gas sector is the largest industrial source of methane emissions in the United States. Rapidly reducing methane emissions is one of the most important and cost-effective actions the United States can take in the short term to slow the rate of rapidly rising global temperatures.
Approximately $345 million went to three entities who are spearheading projects in Region 8:
Colorado State University
The university received awards totaling $324.6 million for three projects:
- Creating a funding program where small operators of MCWs can enroll their MCW sites for methane emissions mitigation funding. Mitigation targets will be prioritized using on-site methane leak assessments and a regionally tuned marginal abatement cost curve analysis to maximize the cost-effectiveness of mitigation actions, the EPA said. The project team will identify solutions and services for operators to deploy at the operator sites. The project includes community outreach and training programs.
- Developing an ultra-low methane emissions retrofit system for gas compression packages in the natural gas transmission and gathering sectors to reduce methane emissions from natural gas engines and eliminate normal compressor vent gas emissions. The project is expected to reduce engine methane emissions to less than 0.5% of the methane supplied in the fuel and eliminate normal compressor vent gas emissions, the EPA said.
- Developing consistent, accurate, granular, and transparent multi‐scale methane emission measurements focused on the region’s producing basins that will inform state and federal emission inventories for the North‐Central region, including a focused effort on gathering and transmission pipelines, distribution damage, and industrial meters.
Pioneer Energy, Inc. In Lakewood, Colorado
Pioneer Energy received $17 million from the EPA for three projects:
- Addressing elimination of flaring and related emissions from oil and gas production through deployment of equipment that achieves better separation between gas and oil while eliminating nearly all emission sources. The approach is also intended to serve as a testbed for how to find, train, onboard, and support the underserved community of adults on the autism spectrum for jobs in the clean energy economy, the EPA said.
- Eliminating flaring and related emissions from oil and gas production through on-site methanol synthesis technology designed to use mass produced internal combustion engines as compressors and chemical reactors. The project will also serve as a testbed for how to find, train, onboard and support the underserved community of adults on the autism spectrum for jobs in the clean energy economy.
- Advancing a new well pad processing technology to achieve better separation between gas and oil, replacing existing equipment while eliminating nearly all emissions sources. The project is also intended to serve as a testbed for how to find, train, onboard, and support the underserved community of adults on the autism spectrum for jobs in the clean energy economy.
Blue Mountain Operations in Rock Springs, Wyoming
Blue Mountain Operations received $3.8 million for a project to scale solar compressors and deploy them for methane-free pneumatic solutions. The compact, fully integrated and solar-powered technology can be used at remote oil and gas sites without grid power to eliminate methane emissions and other secondary emissions. The project will also focus on investments in the development of a skilled workforce as well as a reduction in local pollution, the EPA said.
Image by Ralf Vetterle from Pixabay
