(Bloomberg) -- Methane emissions in the largest US oil basin plunged 26% last year as companies tightened operations and deployed new technology to stop leaks of the potent greenhouse gas, according to a study by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
The reduction of more than 34 billion cubic feet of methane from crude and natural gas production in the Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico in 2023 is equal to the emissions avoided by every US electric vehicle on the road that year, the study found.
The decrease come as US President Joe Biden’s administration has enacted strict rules to crack down on methane leaks from the oil and gas sector, aiming to prevent about 58 million tons of the gas from being released through 2038. Those mandates face a threat from President-elect Donald Trump, who is being urged by the oil industry to ease the restrictions.
Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is an especially potent greenhouse gas that’s at least 80 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in warming the atmosphere during the first two decades after its release. Oil and gas operations are the largest industrial source of methane pollution in the US.
The decline in emissions occurred even as oil and gas production in the Permian increased in 2023, the most recent year for which data is available. S&P conducted the study together with the methane management firm Insight M Inc., using high-resolution aerial surveys covering 88% of active wells in the Permian.
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