Keeping Natural Gas Green: The Need to Prevent Methane Leaks

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Natural gas, known commonly as the “cleanest” of the fossil fuels, has the potential to reduce significantly the world's reliance on the heavily polluting coal as an energy source, thus cutting greatly on emissions and reducing the environmental impact of energy production as a whole.

However, natural gas has long since been a double-edged sword, comprised mainly of the noxiously polluting hydrocarbon methane. Natural gas energy offers both a challenge and a solution in itself. Consuming the natural gas as energy destroys the methane, creating energy and much lower pollutant emissions in the process.

Most of the pollution derived from natural gas comes in the commercial production of oil. When no market for natural gas is available, it is often flared (burned) or vented for safety purposes relating to the pressure of the underground oil reservoir. This is also the primary source of pollution associated with natural gas.

A considerable amount of pollution is also produced by the gradual leaking of the gas from natural gas production itself, the exact volume of which has only lately been identified. For it bo become truly green, the natural gas industry must reduce leaks to negligible amounts (less than 1 percent). Developments to ensure the effective sealing of natural gas across the entire production chain is necessary to prevent leaks from taking place.

Until recently, leaks of methane have been very difficult to detect due to the odorless nature of the gas. The rotten egg smell associated with natural gas is in fact added to the process and was one of the original ways that leaks were detected. New technology promises to automate the process of detecting gas leaks that they may be remedied almost immediately.

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In addition, industry groups and government entities alike must establish clear guidelines to reduce leaks across the industry itself. Strong regulatory requirements could translate to better monitoring of gas leaks and the standardization of measuring and sealing technologies industry-wide.

Brian Alfaro and his company, Primera Energy, are dedicated to both increasing investor value and reducing their operations' environmental impact. For more on his company's oil and gas operations in Texas, visit this LinkedIn page.