American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2016 - 32

source methane proposal may be months
away," but it adds, "We would be surprised
if the scope of an eventual rule deviated
significantly from the EPA's Aug. 18,
2015, proposal to regulate methane from
new and modified oil and gas wells, or
the Bureau of Land Management's Jan.
22 proposal to regulate venting and flaring
on federal and tribal lands."
EPA's proposed rules address compressors, pneumatic devices, leak detection
and repair, and well completions (AOGR,
September 2015, pg. 36). To those, BLM's
proposal adds storage tanks and liquids
unloading (AOGR, February 2016, pg. 31).
Cater To Extremists
Kyle Isakower, vice president of regulatory and economic policy at the American Petroleum Institute, accuses President
Obama of "catering to environmental ex-

tremists at the expense of American consumers."
IER's Pyle adds, "There is no doubt
that President Obama's climate agenda is
designed to cut off access to America's
abundant, affordable energy resources.
Whether it is regulating methane, banning
coal lease sales on public lands, or imposing
illegal regulations on power plants, this
administration wants to keep our most
viable energy resources in the ground."
IPAA's Fuller worries that extending
controls to existing wells threatens 20 percent of America's oil production and 13
percent of its natural gas production.
"There is no concrete data that justify the
risks of shutting down significant amounts
of American oil and gas production," he
insists, pointing out that production-related
activities are responsible for only 1.07
percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

Kathleen Sgamma, vice president of
government and public affairs for the
Western Energy Alliance, says voluntary
industry efforts already have reduced
methane emissions 21 percent while natural gas production has risen 47 percent.
Sgamma adds, "(In) this announcement,
the president has gone even further with his
'pen and phone.' Knowing there is not time
in his last term to get through the regulatory
process required by law, he is directing
EPA to engage in regulation by enforcement.
EPA will use Clean Air Act Section 114 enforcement requests to tie companies in knots
with highly detailed and extremely timeconsuming requests for information, and
then threaten huge fines if they don't change
practices, even if they are operating according
to existing regulations. Apparently, laws
don't matter to the president when he is targeting an industry he doesn't like."
❒

Oil & Gas Not Cause Of Methane Rise
WASHINGTON-Rising levels of
methane in the atmosphere that the Environmental Protection Agency cites as
justification for proposing emission controls on oil and gas facilities more likely
are coming from wetlands and agriculture,
according to Energy in Depth.
A blog post by EID spokeswoman
Katie Brown cites a study by Hinrich
Schaefer, an atmospheric scientist at the
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in Wellington,
New Zealand. The study was released in
March by the U.S. National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, Brown says.
According to Brown, the NIWA
study concludes, "Increasing methane
levels are caused not by fossil fuel pro-

duction, but rather by wetlands or, more
likely, agriculture."
Between 1999 and 2006, NIWA observed a plateau in the amount of methane
in the atmosphere. It had been increasing
since preindustrial times, but leveled for
several years before it began to rise again
after 2006. But, Brown cites the study,
"Fossil fuel emissions . . . are a minor
contributor to the renewed rise. Either
food production or climate-sensitive natural
emissions are the most probable causes."
Brown says NIWA explains that isotope-based analysis suggests the thermogenic methane associated with oil and
natural gas "didn't resume to cause the
renewed (atmospheric methane) rise after
2006. Post-2006 increases are predomi-

nately biogenic (associated with natural
or agricultural causes), outside the
Arctic, and arguably more consistent
with agriculture than wetlands."
Brown says the NIWA study bolters
EID's own research that indicates EPA's
methane regulations will reduce global
temperatures a mere 0.004 degrees Celsius by 2011.
"It's also in line with an analysis from
the National Economic Research Associates that concludes EPA's projected
benefits from its methane rules are 'highly
uncertain and very likely overstated,' and
that the agency's figures 'lack the appropriate peer review that is necessary for
use in supporting regulatory policy.'" ❒

GAS STORAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
FROM PAGE 22
natural gas storage on Nov. 13 (AOGR,
December 2015, pg. 16). The agency
says changes in regional trends in natural
gas consumption, production and storage
led it to recategorize its storage regions.
In large part, EIA says, the former East
Consuming region was split into the new
East and Midwest regions, while the
previous West Consuming region was
split into the new Pacific and Mountain
regions. The new South-Central Region
consists mainly of the states that
comprised the old Producing Region.
According to EIA, gas storage in the
new East Region was 439 Bcf on March
25, 41.2 percent above the five-year
average, but 73 Bcf less than Feb. 19,
when storage stood at 512 Bcf, 18.0
32 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

percent above the five-year average. East
Region gas storage on March 25 was 178
Bcf more than a year ago.
Gas storage in the new Midwest
Region stood at 555 Bcf on March 25,
62.3 percent above the five-year average
and 90 Bcf less than the 645 Bcf in
storage on Feb. 19, which was 33.3
percent above the five year average.
March 25 gas storage in the Midwest
Region was 289 Bcf more than a year
ago.
In the new Mountain Region, EIA
says, gas storage was 147 Bcf on March
25, which was 28.9 percent above the
five-year average, unchanged from the
147 Bcf stored on Feb. 19, which then
was 10.5 percent above the five year

average. Gas storage in the Mountain
Region was up 33 Bcf from a year ago.
Gas storage in the new Pacific Region
was 262 Bcf on March 25, 29.7 percent
above the five-year average and 6 Bcf more
than the 256 Bcf stored on Feb. 19, which
was 16.4 percent above the five-year
average. Pacific Region gas storage on
March 25 was down 6 Bcf from a year ago.
In the South-Central Region, gas
storage levels on March 25 were 1.065
Tcf, 62.3 percent above the five-year
average and up 41 Bcf from the 1.024 Tcf
in storage on Feb. 19, which was 38.9
percent above the five-year average. The
March 25 gas storage level for the SouthCentral Region was up 507 Bcf from a
year ago. ❒

American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2016

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