Permian Basin producers reduce methane intensity by 50% as production increases

By Bethany Blankley
The Center Square

Methane emissions intensity for upstream oil and natural gas operations in the Permian Basin declined by more than 50% in two years, according to an analysis by S&P Global Commodity Insights.

The basin, located in southeastern New Mexico and far west Texas, produces roughly half of the crude oil and one fifth of natural gas in the country. The basin spans more than 86,000 square miles – roughly 10 times the size of New Jersey. Roughly 250 miles wide and 300 miles long, it has more than 7,000 fields.

The majority of production in the basin, 70%, occurs on private land in Texas.

The report states that methane emissions intensity for the region in 2024 was 0.44% per barrel of oil equivalent – a 29% drop from 2023. Absolute annual 2024 methane emissions dropped by 21.3 billion cubic feet (bcf), a 22% decline over the year.

“The reduction is equivalent to 11.1 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions avoided,” the report states. Since 2022, “absolute emissions declined by 55.2 bcf, equivalent to 28.8 MMT of carbon dioxide emissions avoided,” it adds.

To put these numbers in perspective, it explains, “the 28.8 MMt CO2e reduction in absolute methane emissions over a two-year period” is roughly equivalent to the entire emissions reported from the country of Lithuania.

The reduction was also “15% greater than the emissions avoided by all electric vehicles sold in the United States and the European Union,” and “50% greater than the total emissions reductions in the UK power sector,” the report notes.

Permian Basin emissions reductions over the last two years alone is “equal to 2.2 billion trash bags recycled instead of landfilled,” and “greater than the greenhouse gas emissions from cooling and heating all the homes in California.”

The data showed reductions across all observable plume rates, from large (1000+kg per hour) to small (10kg per hour) emissions, the report notes.

Methane emissions reduction records were reported as production records were made in the basin, led by Texas, The Center Square reported. The report attributes this to ongoing equipment improvement, to “increasing deployment of new technologies – from AI-driven analysis of operational data to on-the-ground sensors, aircraft overflights and satellites – that make it possible to detect leaks with greater speed and accuracy,” among other new methods employed.

“Methane emissions management is being increasingly normalized as part of field operations. It’s becoming a standard and accepted part of the field staff’s responsibilities,” S&P Global Commodity Insights’ Global Upstream VP Raoul LeBlanc said. “At the same time, oilfield service manufacturers are now producing equipment that includes emissions reduction as an important feature, and operators are increasingly utilizing AI and machine learning to not only ‘find and fix’ but ‘predict and prevent’ emissions.”

The analysis is based on data from 529 high-resolution aerial surveys conducted over the course of a year spanning 90% of the basin’s production and nearly 82% of 161,000 active Permian wells, the report states.

The Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition praised the industry for the progress it’s made.

“Our members have consistently demonstrated a sincere and deep commitment to reducing the level of methane intensity levels – efforts that are clearly working,” it said. Since the coalition was founded in 2019 it says its operators “have made significant progress in ending the practice of routine flaring, and as this new data confirms, achieved extraordinary methane intensity reduction alongside record production levels.”

They are doing this at a time when global energy demands are high and increasingly rely on Texas production, Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association, told The Center Square.

“The Texas oil and gas industry is dedicated to meeting increased energy demand for the U.S. and its allies while operating responsibly and continuing to drive emissions lower,” Longanecker said. “As we reported in April of this year, Permian methane intensity declined by 83 percent between 2011 and 2023, while flaring intensity in the basin was 65 percent lower in 2023 compared to 2015.”

Pointing to World Bank data, he said, “of the top 20 countries by flared volumes, the United States has made the most progress over the last 10+ years in reducing its emissions even as it continues to set production records. Texas operators played a key role in that success.”

The industry continues to build “new and modern infrastructure to transport energy safely and efficiently,” and continues to prioritize innovation, digitization, and investment to continue lowering emissions, he said. However, TIPRO and others are advocating for “a clear, predictable, and permanent permitting process” at the federal level in order “to safeguard responsible energy development for decades to come,” he said.