Measuring and Managing the Unknown: Methane Emissions from the Oil and Gas Value Chain

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah M. Jordaan ◽  
Katherine Konschnik
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Methane Emissions

Reducing methane losses across the gas value chain – Woodside journey to excellence

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Jarrod Pittson ◽  
Allie Convery
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Methane Emission ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Educational Institution ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Guiding Principles

Woodside is the first, and, to date, only, Australian listed company to be a signatory to the Methane Guiding Principles, an industry, non-Government organisation and educational institution collaboration aimed at reducing methane emissions across the natural gas value chain. Woodside’s methane emissions are ~0.04% of our total hydrocarbon production, or 400 kt CO2-eq per annum (Woodside Energy 2019). This is a relatively small methane emission footprint in comparison with other industrial and oil and gas operators; however, to ensure the greenhouse gas and environmental benefits of LNG over coal and other greenhouse intensive fossil fuels remain legitimate and substantial, we recognise the important role of minimising methane losses through the natural gas value chain. The global-warming potential of methane is 86 times more potent over a 20-year time frame than that of carbon dioxide (IPCC 2014). By tackling methane emissions, significant inroads can be made in reducing the impacts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Woodside became a signatory to the Methane Guiding Principles in April 2018 and has commenced a program of work to deliver on the five principles, which are to (1) continually reduce methane emissions, (2) advance strong performance across gas value chains, (3) improve accuracy of methane emissions data, (4) advocate sound policy and regulations on methane emissions and (5) increase transparency. This paper will focus on the journey we are on, namely, understanding our methane emission footprint within our operational boundaries and setting in place an action plan to reduce these emissions. But it is also a lot broader as we start to look beyond our gates to the transport and distribution networks, through to the end user turning on their gas stove at home. It is about cradle to grave custody of our product for it to be a viable long-term solution in a lower-carbon economy.

scholarly journals An empirical study of oil and gas value chain agility in the UAE

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (9) ◽  
pp. 3541-3569 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ala Shqairat ◽  
Balan Sundarakani
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Value Chains ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Moderate Effect ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the agility of oil and gas value chains in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and to understand the impact of implementing supply disruption (SD) strategies, outsourcing strategies (OS) and management strategies (MS) on oil and gas value chain agility (VCA). The results can support the oil and gas industry across the UAE to build resilience in the value chain. Design/methodology/approach The research design consists of a comprehensive literature review, followed by questionnaire-based survey responses of 106 participants and comprehensive statistical analysis, thus validate the developed theoretical framework and contribute to both practical and methodological approaches. Findings The findings indicate that oil and gas value chain in the UAE has moderate a significant degree of SD, when OS in place that are synchronized with the overall MS. Among the hypotheses developed, two were accepted thus warranting both SD strategies (r=+0.432) and MS (r= +0.457) found to have a positive moderate effect on VCA. The third hypothesis was rejected by revealing OS (r=+0.387) found to have a positive moderate relationship with VCA. Therefore, implementation of all three strategies has a positive moderate effect on the agility of the value chain and, therefore, supports to sustain competitive position. Research limitations/implications Some of the limitations of this research include the geographic coverage of the study region and other methodological limitation. Practical implications The research provides guidance for oil and gas supply chain managers to better understand the critical factors that impact and determine VCA. The paper also describes relevant strategies that should be taken into consideration by these managers in order to build their agile value chains. Social implications The research contributes to the social dimensions of supply chain sustainability of how resilient is the oil and gas value chain during uncertain conditions, so that it can respond to uncertain changes in order to contribute to corporate social responsibility. Originality/value This research is the first of its kind in the UAE region to assess the link between dimensions of agile value chain, OS, SD strategies and MS primarily from the Emirates of Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

scholarly journals Advanced Leak Detection and Quantification of Methane Emissions Using sUAS

Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 117
Author(s):  
Derek Hollenbeck ◽  
Demitrius Zulevic ◽  
Yangquan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Near Field ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Leak Detection ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Unmanned Aircraft ◽  
Natural Ecosystems ◽  
Traditional Methods ◽  
Detection Techniques

Detecting and quantifying methane emissions is gaining an increasingly vital role in mitigating emissions for the oil and gas industry through early detection and repair and will aide our understanding of how emissions in natural ecosystems are playing a role in the global carbon cycle and its impact on the climate. Traditional methods of measuring and quantifying emissions utilize chamber methods, bagging individual equipment, or require the release of a tracer gas. Advanced leak detection techniques have been developed over the past few years, utilizing technologies, such as optical gas imaging, mobile surveyors equipped with sensitive cavity ring down spectroscopy (CRDS), and manned aircraft and satellite approaches. More recently, sUAS-based approaches have been developed to provide, in some ways, cheaper alternatives that also offer sensing advantages to traditional methods, including not being constrained to roadways and being able to access class G airspace (0–400 ft) where manned aviation cannot travel. This work looks at reviewing methods of quantifying methane emissions that can be, or are, carried out using small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) as well as traditional methods to provide a clear comparison for future practitioners. This includes the current limitations, capabilities, assumptions, and survey details. The suggested technique for LDAQ depends on the desired accuracy and is a function of the survey time and survey distance. Based on the complexity and precision, the most promising sUAS methods are the near-field Gaussian plume inversion (NGI) and the vertical flux plane (VFP), which have comparable accuracy to those found in conventional state-of-the-art methods.

scholarly journals Methane emissions in the Netherlands: The Groningen field

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara I. Yacovitch ◽  
Bruno Neininger ◽  
Scott C. Herndon ◽  
Hugo Denier van der Gon ◽  
Sander Jonkers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Production Volume ◽  
Offshore Platforms ◽  
Source Characterization ◽  
Gas Field ◽  
Study Region ◽  
Individual Site

The Groningen natural gas field in the Netherlands – one of Europe’s major gas fields – deploys a “production cluster” infrastructure with extraction, some processing and storage in a single facility. This region is also the site of intensive agriculture and cattle operations. We present results from a multi-scale measurement campaign of methane emissions, including ground and airborne-based estimates. Results are compared with inventory at both the facility and regional level. Investigation of production cluster emissions in the Groningen gas field shows that production volume alone is not a good indicator of whether, and how much, a site is emitting methane. Sites that are nominally shut down may still be emitting, and vice-versa. As a result, the inventory emission factors applied to these sites (i.e. weighted by production) do a poor job of reproducing individual site emissions. Additional facility-level case studies are presented, including a plume at 150 ± 50 kg CH4 hr–1 with an unidentified off-shore emission source, a natural gas storage facility and landfills. Methane emissions in a study region covering 6000 km2 and including the majority of the Groningen field are dominated by biogenic sources (e.g. agriculture, wetlands, cattle). Total methane emissions (8 ± 2 Mg hr–1) are lower than inventory predictions (14 Mg hr–1) but the proportion of fossil fuel sources is higher than indicated by the inventory. Apportionment of methane emissions between thermogenic and biogenic source types used ethane/methane ratios in aircraft flasks and ground-based source characterization. We find that emissions from the oil and gas sector account for 20% of regional methane, with 95% confidence limits of (0%, 51%). The experimental uncertainties bound the inventory apportionment of 1.9%, though the central estimate of 20% exceeds this result by nearly 10 times. This study’s uncertainties demonstrate the need for additional research focusing on emissions apportionment, inventory refinement and offshore platforms.

Evaluating Methods To Estimate Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Production Facilities Using LES Simulations

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (19) ◽  
pp. 11206-11214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo E. Saide ◽  
Daniel F. Steinhoff ◽  
Branko Kosovic ◽  
Jeffrey Weil ◽  
Nicole Downey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Evaluating Methods ◽  
Production Facilities

Tackling the Methane Quandary: Curbing Emissions from Control Valves

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Pacini ◽  
Stefano Rossini
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Control Valve ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Fugitive Emissions ◽  
Fugitive Emission ◽  
Control Valves ◽  
One Year ◽  
The One

Abstract In the wake of Eni's strategy to curb fugitive emissions - in particular methane – an innovative control valve (Clarke Shutter Valve) has been deployed and tested in an Italian Eni facility. This shutter type valve is capable of reducing the fugitive emissions by more than 90%, as well as greatly curbing purchase costs, thanks to an innovative design in bonnet and regulating mechanism. In order to assess the real potentiality of the innovation, four Fisher globe valves and one Fisher V-ball were substituted with the Shutter Valves on different hydrocarbon streams of the Trecate facility (Piedmont), in particular on streams containing oil, gas and corrosive fluids. The valves were monitored for more than a year and fugitive emissions tests have been performed to detect and estimate methane leak rates. Since this represented a first deployment of this technology in Europe, a thorough analysis and technology validation of the valves has been performed. A successful installation and start-up were performed in 3 days by Eni's staff at in February of 2020. The valves were fully operational after the installation and to date no issues have been reported. In order to monitor the valves performances of flow control, continuous data collection on each valve has been implemented, and the analysis performed showed that all valves behave correctly as to Eni's standards. A fugitive emission test that has been performed at the end of 2020 with a certified portable FID/PID analyzer displayed that no methane emissions were detected from the valves. Lastly the one year and half long technology validation concluded that the Shutter Valves are a valid technology for curbing methane emissions from the Oil and Gas plants, and that suggested to qualify the company as Eni partner for control valves. This deployment and field tests, as well as the technological assessment performed by Eni's professionals showed the potentiality of this new type of valves in reducing the methane emissions from the petroleum industry. Understanding the potentiality of intrinsically carbon neutral technology is a crucial step for the mitigation of greenhouse gases emissions and towards the creation of a more environmentally friendly industry.

Methane Emissions Reduction Solutions: Product Development and Standardization

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Garceau ◽  
Amar Jawalkar ◽  
Ryan McKennon ◽  
Christopher Moffatt ◽  
Anthony Pocengal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Blow Down ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Process Gas ◽  
Natural Gas Industry ◽  
Methane Reduction ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The Oil & Gas industry and environmental agencies around the world are working to find solutions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A comprehensive study by the US EPA found that emissions from compressor stations, blow down and purge, accounted for 97.7 Bscf or just over 31% of the total methane emissions attributed to the Natural Gas industry. [1] With methane (CH4) having 25 times the impact on global warming compared to carbon dioxide (CO2), and global legislation like the Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds Upstream Oil and Gas Sector (or also called Canadian Methane Rule) and regional methane reduction regulations, developing solutions to further mitigate methane emissions from process gas vents and centrifugal gas compressor seals becomes necessary as the industry moves towards near-zero targets. This paper addresses the design requirements and selection of a process gas vent recapture system and primary dry seal vent recapture system. In addition, this paper will review the design consideration during the design phase to the data collected during site operation.

Guest Editorial: Three Pathways to Relevance and Profitability

2020 ◽  
Vol 72 (12) ◽  
pp. 11-13
Author(s):  
Manas Satapathy ◽  
Herve Wilczynski
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Production Management ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Half Cycle ◽  
Development Costs ◽  
Economic Climate ◽  
Exploration And Production ◽  
Primary Focus

For most of the past 160 years, the exploration and production (E&P) sector earned outsized economic rent for finding new oil and gas (O&G) resources and making them economically viable for production. This was possible because of the perceived scarcity of such resources; demand expectations for hydrocarbon products far exceeded their likely supply. During that period, E&P companies focused on building functional expertise to enable growth and operate assets safely. Exploration and appraisal capabilities were particularly revered as key drivers of value. Other areas of the value chain such as field production management, logistics, or even marketing were not seen as critically differentiating. Understandably, building expertise in those areas was never made the primary focus. What a difference a decade makes. Perpetual Disruption Is the New Normal Today, we live in a completely different world. The challenges facing upstream companies simply did not exist 10 years ago. Six compressive forces, in particular, are bringing about a sea change in the industry. Earlier this year, COVID-19 brought with it a sharp and palpable drop in demand for transportation-related crude. With the dramatic structural changes we have made to the ways we live and work in response to the pandemic, low crude demand is expected to continue. This will only exacerbate resource holders’ concerns about supply overabundance. E&P companies that hold hydrocarbon resources were already worried that the resources they own could go unmonetized. Now, that threat is stronger than ever. So is the incentive to monetize their resources as quickly as possible. Ironically, their actions to do so will make the oversupply situation worse. Beyond the issues of supply and demand, the industry’s general economic climate is wreaking havoc. O&G companies typically focus on half-cycle economics or lifting costs when making production decisions. That is because land acquisition and development costs are considered sunk. If oil prices stay in the $40-50/bbl range, many asset classes will simply be uneconomical from a full-cycle standpoint.

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