Emissions

Wyoming state regulators are pursuing expanded rules related to emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and methane, both primary components of natural gas. They are seeking tougher mandates for leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs and drawing kudos from environmentalists.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), which includes under its regulatory umbrella much of the state’s natural gas and oil industry, needs to open its doors wider to public scrutiny, said acting DEP secretary E. Christopher Abruzzo.

Total natural gas used for power generation in the United States was down 14% between January and July 2013 compared with the same seven month period in 2012, due primarily to higher gas prices relative to coal prices this year, according to a report issued Wednesday by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday issued long-awaitedproposed rulesfor greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for new power plants, leaving gas-fired plants mostly unaffected but making construction of new coal-fired plants problematic.

Appalachian operator EQT Corp. and the oilfield services company Green Field Energy Services have completed multiple hydraulic fracturing (fracking) stages using pumps powered 100% by Marcellus Shale gas at a well site.

An energy industry-backed study of methane emissions at well sites published Monday relies on a too-small sample that was selected by industry participants where “best practices” emissions reductions are already in place; therefore, it’s findings are not broadly applicable, critics said Tuesday. However, industry analysts suggested that the research and more to follow could take some of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions heat off of the natural gas industry.

The first of 16 methane emissions studies focusing on unconventional natural gas production and organized by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has been published and says that industry efforts to control emissions at well sites are having a significant impact.

With proper regulation, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shale gas operations should represent only a small part of the total carbon footprint of shale gas and would fall within the nontraded sector of the United Kingdom’s carbon budgets, according to the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC).

A small increase in natural gas flaring worldwide was detected in 2011, the most recent year for which statistics are compiled, and that increase concerns officials at a World Bank-led global partnership focused on the oilfield issue.