DENVER
Natural-gas operators in Southwest Colorado say precautions are already in place to prevent costly leakage identified in a recent environmental report.
The report released last month by the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund estimated that losses from oil and gas companies operating on federal and tribal lands were worth more than $360 million in 2013, according to current market prices.
Researchers said the problem stems from gas that is burned off, vented or leaked from infrastructure at sites on federal and tribal lands. Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management is preparing to release new rules for oil and gas operators on waste.
“The oil and gas industry is wasting a valuable public resource and making life difficult for their neighbors in the process by damaging both local air quality and the climate,” said Mark Brownstein, EDF vice president for climate and energy. “Solutions to the problem are simple, straightforward and cost-effective. It’s not hard to do. But it’s not going to happen without new rules.”
But operators in Southwest Colorado say the San Juan Basin has adequate infrastructure already in place to prevent local flaring. The La Plata Energy Council pointed out that operators check locations frequently to monitor surface equipment, including checking seals on valves and pumps.
With 3,325 active wells in La Plata County – some on tribal lands – the industry takes the issue seriously, said Christi Zeller, executive director of the La Plata County Energy Council. The Southern Ute Indian Tribe has two businesses that are producing natural gas, including Red Willow and Red Cedar. Red Willow is the third-largest operator in La Plata County. Zeller pointed out that there are not many local BLM-land minerals being developed.
“The San Juan Basin is predominantly a natural-gas field, and operators work hard to get that gas to a sales market,” Zeller said. “During the high price years (2005 and 2008), many local operators began to change out production equipment to capture even more methane. Even more important, when the price of natural gas ... is low, like it is right now, every revenue-dollar is important for operators, transporters and all royalty owners, including the tribe and the federal government.”
She added that methane emissions from U.S. natural-gas production have fallen by more than a third since 2007.
“We understand natural gas is a valuable resource, and we work hard to control emissions,” Zeller said. “We are in the business of producing and selling methane in partnership with mineral-rights owners, and we don’t need a report from a New York environmental group to remind us of that. I am betting this report from EDF is more about pushing new federal energy regulations than anything else.”
But the EDF report highlighted that oil and gas operations on federal and tribal lands emitted over 1 million tons of methane in 2013, representing about 12 percent of the nation’s methane emissions from oil and gas operations.
Researchers for EDF determined that new technologies and practices could reduce emissions to the atmosphere by nearly 40 percent.
“(The) analysis underscores just how important it is that BLM proposes strong standards to minimize waste and reduce emissions,” said Tomás Carbonell, director of regulatory policy for EDF’s Climate and Air Program. “BLM has a responsibility to taxpayers to reduce the massive natural-gas waste from oil and gas development happening on public lands, and this report shows there are commonsense reduction opportunities that exist to help do that.”
Methane is not a new subject in Southwest Colorado. A team of researchers and scientists in April landed in the area after a NASA report revealed that the Four Corners is responsible for producing the largest concentration of methane in the nation, in which the greenhouse gas can be seen leaking in real time through thermal observations.
Because methane is the main component of natural gas, it also represents a waste of a resource every time it leaks. Colorado, in 2014, became the first state to limit methane emissions, and the industry said it will take time for those results to quantify.
Zeller said the Four Corners methane report failed to take into account natural seepage, which is something researchers said they are looking into.
“We would like to get a better understanding on the data used in assuming a leak rate in order to conduct the economic analysis,” she said.
The Durango Herald asked BP and XTO Energy, both of which have operations in Southwest Colorado, for comment on their techniques to stop leakage. Both companies referred comment to the La Plata Energy Council.
Zeller pointed out that over the past several years, BP began instituting methane-capturing techniques. The company also made improvements to a system for purging fluids that clog wells. The computerized system tracks well pressure and other conditions to limit leakage.