Oil producers in the Permian Basin must do more to disclose and stop the leak of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, a House committee wrote in a letter to 10 major oil companies.
The letter from the House Science Committee was sent to some of the largest fossil fuel producers in the Permian Basin, a major source of oil and natural gas that includes vast portions of Texas and New Mexico. Among them were Exxon Mobil Corp., Occidental Petroleum Corp., ConocoPhillips, Chevron Corp., and Pioneer Natural Resources Co.
In the letter, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat who chairs the the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, said she was concerned that leak detection and repair programs at the companies weren’t sufficient and demanded the companies disclose more information about their leaks and how they found them.
The committee said it is investigating whether existing leak detection and repair programs “possess the capabilities to achieve wide-ranging, quantifiable emission reductions from oil and gas sector methane leaks” and if additional policies are needed for a stronger federal role. The committee said it was requesting private sector leak detection and repair program information to inform its efforts.
“I am concerned that oil and gas sector Leak Detection and Repair (LDAR) programs may not be designed and equipped to comprehensively monitor and detect methane leaks, particularly the intermittent, ‘super-emitting’ leaks that are responsible for much of the sector’s leak emissions,” Johnson wrote.
