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This week sees the release of new figures from the U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Program (GHGRP), which includes self-reported, large facility-level emissions data for 2015.

The good news is that methane pollution from the oil and gas industry is down slightly, thanks to a combination of stronger safeguards starting to take effect, along with a decline in new drilling projects due to an overall market cooling.

Operators report that methane pollution from onshore oil and gas production is down about 3.8% in 2015 from 2014.  However, overall greenhouse gas emissions from all reporting segments in the oil and gas sector are only down 1.6%.

Sensible methane standards are starting to work

Some in industry will undoubtedly point to the new numbers as evidence that new emission rules are unnecessary. In fact, the figures show that sensible safeguards are responsible for much of the progress.

For example, the data from 2011-2015, oil and gas companies report a decline in methane emissions from well completions an area the EPA began regulating in 2012. Since October of that year, operators have been required under an early phase of EPA's New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) to either flare (burn off) or capture emissions with Reduced Emissions Completions (RECs), or use green completion†methods that capture and route excess gas back into the system.

What we don't learn from the Greehouse Gas Reporting Program numbers

It's also important to note that many methane emissions are still unaccounted for in these new figures, which are self-reported by industry, and only include facilities emitting over 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per year. Only about half of U.S. oil and gas wells are required to report their emissions to the GHGRP. This is unlike the EPA's Greenhouse Gas Inventory, which is an agency-prepared accounting of all man-made greenhouse gasses from across all sectors. View Full Article