The US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have announced US$850 million for 43 projects selected for negotiation that will help small oil and gas operators, Tribes, and other entities to reduce, monitor, measure, and quantify methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.
The selected projects, funded by the Inflation Reduction Act, represent a significant step in addressing climate change and improving air quality. By mitigating legacy air pollution and supporting small oil and natural gas operators, the projects will help reduce methane emissions through available and innovative technologies. Additionally, they will create partnerships to enhance emissions measurement and provide transparent data to affected communities. One Tribal consortium, 11 universities, and 20 private companies were selected for projects across the Nation to deploy and test new and existing methane mitigation technologies:
- Three projects will help small operators across the country significantly reduce methane emissions from low-producing oil and natural gas operations, using commercially available technology solutions.
- Thirty-one projects will accelerate the deployment of early-commercial technology solutions to reduce methane emissions from new and existing equipment.
- Four projects will improve communities’ access to empirical emissions data and participation in monitoring.
- Five projects will enhance the detection and measurement of methane emissions from oil and gas operations at regional scale.
In total, the EPA and DOE are partnering to provide US$1.36 billion in financial and technical assistance as part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Methane Emissions Reduction Program. The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, under the purview of DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management, will manage the selected projects. Additional details about the selected projects can be found here.
The Methane Emissions Reduction Program directed the EPA to take action to tackle wasteful methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. The financial and technical assistance, implemented through a partnership between the EPA and DOE, work in concert both with the recently finalized Waste Emissions Charge and with Clean Air Act standards issued in March 2024 to limit methane emissions from new and existing oil and gas operations.
Combined, these actions will help position the United States as the most efficient producer of oil and natural gas in the world and ensure that the industry remains competitive in overseas markets that require a minimum level of emissions performance. Together, the DOE and EPA’s methane actions will advance the adoption of cost-effective technologies, reduce wasteful practices, and yield significant economic, health, and environmental benefits, while driving continued innovation in methane detection, monitoring, and mitigation techniques.
