Natural Gas Use to Reduce Carbon, Greenhouse Gases

• BP – BP achieved zero net growth in operational emissions in 2018, a methane intensity of 0.2% and 2.5 million tonnes (MTe) of sustainable GHG emissions reductions activity since the beginning of 2016.
  • BP has set a goal of reaching 3.5 million tonnes of sustainable GHG emissions reductions by 2025.
  • Since 2000, BP’s U.S. onshore business, BPX Energy, has reduced its total GHG emissions by more than 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, with methane reductions accounting for most of the decline. That’s comparable to the annual electricity-related emissions of more than 300,000 typical American homes. Source: https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/news-and-insights/speeches/investing-in-a-cleaner-better-future.html

• Chevron – Chevron has set a goal to reduce flaring by 25 to 30% and to reduce methane emissions by 20 to 25% for the 2016-2023 time period. These new performance measures can be used to determine Chevron’s annual variable pay program that affects approximately 45,000 employees.  Examples of emission reduction projects:
  • Richmond Refinery modernization project’s annual NOx reductions are equivalent to removing more than 11,000 cars from Richmond streets;
  • Air emission monitoring at the Richmond, California refinery provides real-time 24-hour data about air quality in the community.

• ConocoPhillips – ConocoPhillips has set a goal to reduce its GHG emissions intensity from 5 to 15% by 2030. Examples of emission reduction projects:
  • In the Bakken, ConocoPhillips uses natural gas chillers to enable more natural gas to be the correct temperature in order to be eligible to go into the midstream pipeline, this way less natural gas will be flared;
  • ConocoPhillips sponsors a Carbon Prize Competition: money is given for research on technologies that convert CO₂ into valuable products.
• EQT – Uses compressed natural gas (CNG) in company vehicles to reduce emissions. EQT also captures natural gas from the field to power fuel cells, which generate on-site energy.
• Equinor – Equinor has set a company-wide upstream flaring intensity target of 0.2% by 2020 for our operated assets. This was set in 2012 as part of our commitment to the Sustainable Energy for All Initiative. Our aim is to eliminate routine flaring in our operations by 2030 at the latest, in line with the World Bank’s Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 Initiative.
  • In Norway, Equinor is further reducing emissions by exploring opportunities for electrification of its offshore fields Troll C, Sleipner and Gudrun, which could potentially reduce CO₂emissions by more than 600,000 tonnes per year.
• Shell – Shell’s net-zero emissions with customer-first strategy focuses on replacing dirtier hydrocarbon with natural gas and LNG for global consumption. Beginning in 2019, Shell set an unconditional three-year target to reduce its Net Carbon Footprint by 2% to 3% compared to 2016.
  • In fact, Shell executives’ pay is now linked to this target.
  • Shell has laid out a plan for meeting the goal of the Paris Climate Agreement in Sky, a technologically and macro-economically possible route to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
• ExxonMobil – ExxonMobil is using natural gas as a pathway to significant reductions of greenhouse gases in industrial operations.
  • At its refinery in Antwerp, Belgium, co-generation technology is being used to improve energy efficiency at an industrial scale. The refinery makes products such as like low-sulphur fuel for ships and uses a natural gas turbine to power the operations. The process of making electricity with the turbine generates two things: electricity and heat. Ordinarily, the heat would be wasted, but by putting a specially designed turbine right next to the refinery’s distillation facility, the company is able to make use of that heat in several ways – to operate pieces of machinery and super heat crude oil during refinery.
• Shell – Shell uses natural gas to lower its GHG footprint and significantly reduce air pollution. Examples of how Shell uses natural gas:
  • In light industry, such as textiles, switching from coal to natural gas boilers reduces costs, lowers greenhouse gas emissions and improves air quality;
  • In heavy industries such as iron, steel, cement and chemicals, switching from coal to natural gas to produce the intense heat required in furnaces can significantly reduce emissions;
  • Natural gas is being converted into high-quality cleaner burning natural gas-to liquids (GTL) fuels for heavy duty vehicles, inland and seagoing marine vessels.

Learn more about NGSA member actions in our blog post as well as our graphic Reaching Climate Goals with Natural Gas.