Quote:Methane emissions from the oil and gas sector held steady in the United States even as oil and gas production increased during a recent period of heightened regulations, according to new research from Johns Hopkins University.

One reason: companies have built more infrastructure needed to better capture methane—a vital component of natural gas—and transport it for sale as fuel, providing a financial incentive to limit the amount escaping into the atmosphere.

The study, published in Communications Earth & Environment, is part of an effort to determine whether federal greenhouse gas legislation and mandates have meaningfully decreased methane emissions.

"This is a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that emissions have not markedly increased, as many scientists feared would happen after an enormous increase in natural gas production in the decades following the hydraulic fracturing boom," said senior researcher Scot Miller, an associate professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University who studies greenhouse gases.

"The bad news is that oil and gas production is still a large percentage of U.S. methane emissions, and we do not find any evidence that a flurry of federal legislation had an impact on emissions."

Quote:Total methane emissions from oil and gas activities for the contiguous U.S. remained between 9.3 teragrams and 10.4 Tg each year. Emissions decreased by 0.58 Tg from 2019–2023, but rose slightly from 2023–2024.

However, the intensity of emissions—the amount of methane emissions relative to oil and gas production—decreased by about 11%, representing the continuation of a decades-long trend rather than a significant drop in emissions, the researchers said.

Quote:The gradual decrease in emissions intensity may reflect better industry practices as methane transitioned from a side product of oil extraction to a valuable consumer product, the researchers said. When there is no pipeline to bring natural gas from the well to market, drilling companies have less incentive to prevent leaks and instead flare the gas to get rid of it.

When pipeline infrastructure became available in regions like West Texas, that gas moved to market, and consumers began using it for heating, cooking, powering certain appliances and generating electricity. Evidence from other studies suggests that leaks decline when gas becomes a valuable commodity.

Additionally, oil and gas companies have been updating and improving their infrastructure.

"Better industry protocols and less flaring have likely helped gradually curb emissions intensity even as gas and oil production have increased," Miller said.

Quote:Further analysis showed that emissions declined in some states over the same period. Texas, home to the largest oil-producing basin in the country, saw a 14% decline in oil and gas methane emissions.