Access to Monitoring Data Reduces Methane Intensity at Operational Oil and Gas Facilities

Methane intensity is defined as methane gas emitted to the atmosphere per oil and gas product throughput at various steps in the supply chain. It is the standard metric used by industry stakeholders to assess methane emissions performance. Many studies have assessed the capabilities of methane emission measurement systems, but no studies have quantified the effect on methane intensity of oil and gas operator access to methane emissions data. In this study, methane emissions were measured with (“data-on”) and without (“data-off”) operator access to real-time methane emissions data and fugitive emission alerts. Across two U.S. producing basins, 46 well sites and production facilities were monitored. Basin 1 was monitored in data-on mode for the full 10-month duration of the study. In basin 2, operators had access to real-time data and alerts for 7.5 months, followed by ~1.5 months of data-off. During the data-on period, emissions decreased over time in both basins. However, following the pivot to data-off in basin 2, the trend reversed, with an implied methane intensity increase of >60%. Well sites emitted disproportionately more than facilities. These tests suggest that operator access to continuous methane monitoring data at oil and gas production sites correlates with reduced methane emissions.