ExxonMobil Expands Methane Emissions Reduction Program
September 25 2017 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
- Subsidiary XTO Energy implementing
program to reduce methane emissions
- Program covers production and midstream
sites
- Collaboration with ExxonMobil Upstream
Research Company focuses on new technologies
ExxonMobil today announced an enhanced program to reduce methane
emissions from its production and midstream facilities across the
United States.
The program, which builds on the company’s longstanding
commitment to emissions reduction, prioritizes actions at sites
operated by subsidiary XTO Energy and includes efforts to develop
and deploy new, more efficient technologies to detect and reduce
facility emissions.
“We are implementing an enhanced leak detection and repair
program across our production and midstream sites to continually
reduce methane emissions, and are also evaluating opportunities to
upgrade facilities and improve efficiency at both current and
future sites,” said XTO president Sara Ortwein. “Our comprehensive
initiative is underscored by a technology research and testing
effort, and includes personnel training, equipment phase out and
facility design improvements.”
The program includes a commitment to phase out high-bleed
pneumatic devices over three years, extensive personnel training,
research, and facility design improvements for new operations.
XTO recently completed a pilot project in the Midland Basin that
tested new low-emission designs that use compressed air instead of
natural gas to operate pneumatic equipment that helps regulate
conditions such as level, flow, pressure and temperature. The
results successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using similar
designs for new and existing central tank batteries and satellites,
to reduce the potential for methane emissions.
XTO’s efforts also include research conducted with ExxonMobil
Upstream Research Company and third-party equipment manufacturers
to continue development of more efficient, state-of-the-art
equipment to detect, quantify and reduce emissions at production
sites. These research efforts build on an extensive portfolio of
more than two dozen existing methane research projects and pilots
already under way.
Earlier this year, ExxonMobil, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and others evaluated the use of aircraft-mounted
leak detection surveys to guide equipment repair, and continue to
assess the use of satellite, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles,
and mobile and ground-based technologies to refine the company’s
methane monitoring.
“Combining our field experience with the research capabilities
at ExxonMobil upstream research provides us with unique insights as
we look to develop and deploy new, more efficient technologies,”
Ortwein said.
As part of the company’s efforts to better understand the
magnitude and characteristics of oil and gas industry-related
methane emissions, ExxonMobil participated in studies conducted by
the University of Texas and Environmental Defense Fund.
ExxonMobil remains active in ongoing methane research, including
participation in a methane measurement reconciliation study with
the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory,
and in supporting research currently underway at Harvard, the
University of Texas Energy Initiative, and Stanford University’s
Natural Gas Initiative.
About ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and
gas company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the
world’s growing energy needs. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading
inventory of resources, is one of the largest refiners and
marketers of petroleum products and its chemical company is one of
the largest in the world. For more information, visit
www.exxonmobil.com or follow us on Twitter
www.twitter.com/exxonmobil.
Cautionary Statement: Statements of
future events or conditions in this release are forward-looking
statements. Actual future results, including project plans and
timing and the impact of operational and technology improvements,
could vary depending on the ability to scale pilot projects; the
outcome of research efforts and future technology developments;
regulatory developments; and other factors discussed in this
release and under the heading “Factors Affecting Future Results” on
the Investors page of ExxonMobil’s website at exxonmobil.com.
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