The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed changes in regulations it issued in 2016 limiting emissions at oil and gas operations. Specifically, it is reconsidering fugitive emissions requirements, wellsite pneumatic pump standards, requirements for certification of closed vent systems, and the alternative means of emissions limitations provisions, EPA said in an Oct. 15 Federal Register notice.
EPA also proposed additional amendments to clarify and streamline the rule’s implementation. These include for well completions (location of a separator during flowback, screen-outs, and coil tubing cleanouts), onshore natural gas processing plants (definition of capital expenditure and monitoring), storage vessels (maximum average daily throughput), and general clarifications (certifying official and recordkeeping and reporting).
The proposed revisions also included technical corrections of inadvertent errors in the final rule, which was issued on June 3, 2016, EPA said. It established New Source Performance Standards for greenhouse gas emissions in the form of limits on methane and volatile organic compounds from oil and gas operations. Then-EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy received petitions for consideration of several provisions after the final rule came out.
EPA proposed several revisions to requirements for collection of fugitive emissions components at wellsites and at compressor stations. Monitoring frequencies would be annually for non-low production sites, every 2 years for low-production well sites, co-proposed semiannual and annual monitoring for compressor stations, and annually for compressor stations on Alaska’s North Slope.
The agency also proposed no longer requiring monitoring when all major production and processing equipment is removed, and a wellsite becomes a wellhead only installation.
EPA also proposed various amendments to other requirements in the fugitive emissions monitoring program. It proposed clarifying that a modification has occurred at a wellsite that is a separate tank battery when a well that sends production to the tank battery has been modified. Given the proposed changes to monitoring frequencies, the agency also is proposing to remove the existing low temperature waiver for compressor stations.
An American Petroleum Institute official welcomed the agency’s action. “EPA’s technical corrections to federal regulations are essential to ensure that the respective rules reflect current technologies and operations that are continuing to reduce methane emissions while ensuring alignment to the statutory authority of the agency,” API Regulatory and Scientific Affairs Senior Director Howard Feldman said.
“Methane emissions from US gas production are down significantly since 1990 while gas output has doubled over the same period,” Feldman said. “Industry initiative, not government mandates, is the driving force behind this success, and data confirms industry’s commitments and efforts are working.”
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
