Environmental Partnership: Paving the Way for Continuous Progress

Mike Sommers
Posted July 30, 2019

The U.S. energy revolution is changing our world for the better.

 Today, the U.S. leads the world in producing natural gas and oil while simultaneously reducing methane emissions relative to production in basins across the U.S.

In the Permian basin, energy production grew 100% from 2011-2017, while methane emissions relative to production fell nearly 40%.

In the Eagle Ford basin, production grew 130% over the same time period, and methane emissions relative to production fell nearly 70%. 

We’re proud of the work of The Environmental Partnership – an industry-led initiative launched in 2017 that is leading the way to further reduce methane emissions from energy operations.

With 65 members to date, The Partnership serves as a model for industry leadership on shared environmental goals and creating pathways for new technologies and techniques – like optical gas imaging cameras, drones and other devices – to drive down emissions and keep more product in the pipe, while providing the energy vital to every American family and business. 

Our shared challenges are great, but so too is the commitment of the industry – through efforts like The Environmental Partnership – to build on emissions reductions achieved and pave the way for continuous improvement.

Critical to the progress the Partnership has made is its model for information sharing and collaboration on technologies and techniques to reduce methane emissions. The feedback on the experience of our participants is telling. For example, we’ve heard from smaller operators that otherwise wouldn’t have access to the kind of resources or information on cutting edge technology to reduce their environmental impact.

When one smaller company became involved with The Partnership, they were still finalizing their emissions detection and repair program. Through The Partnership, they were able to learn from and collaborate with larger and various other companies who already had successful programs in place. Being able to see the depth and details of those programs helped springboard their own, enabling the company to operate their facilities at a higher level. These opportunities to learn, collaborate and take action in order to responsibly develop our nation’s essential natural gas and oil resources are at the foundation of The Partnership’s mission.

Answering the dual challenge of meeting the world’s growing energy needs while powering innovation to continuously improve America’s environmental performance has never been more important, and we’re committed to leading the way and doing our part.