EPA Comments Renew Oil Industry Debate on Methane Flaring

Methane emissions from oil wells, as well as other parts of the oil and gas sector, are being considered by U.S. EPA for potential regulations under the Clean Air Act.  The agency released a set of five white papers in April exploring equipment and processes where the industry could tighten nuts and bolts to tamp down on emissions.

Companies including TransCanada Corp., Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and XTO Energy Inc. came out swinging against EPA's white papers in comments released last week.

The papers were a key first step for the agency, which has been tasked by President Obama to explore regulating the sector to address climate change.  The oil and gas sector is the largest industrial emitter of methane, which is 86 times as potent as carbon dioxide over a 20-year time frame.  To tackle global warming, both gases matter.

The industry has strongly opposed EPA regulations and the agency, which initially seemed dedicated to the process, has lately appeared to draw back.

One of the processes the EPA examined was extraction from oil wells.  Many energy companies have switched to oil production in recent years as the fuel fetches a better price on the market than natural gas.

EPA Comments Renew Oil Industry Debate on Methane Flaring