EPA Issues Long-Awaited Methane Emissions Regulations: Action Required For Every Wellsite

Highlights

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced plans to strengthen proposed standards for reducing methane emissions and other air pollutants.
• Among other changes, oil and gas companies would be required to perform routine leak monitoring at all wellsites and compression stations.
• The EPA's plans also call for a program to identify "super-emitters" for prompt mitigation as part of updated pollution reduction measures.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Nov. 11, 2022, announced at COP27 its plans to strengthen proposed standards to reduce methane emissions and other air pollutants. While the proposed regulation is complex and lengthy at more than 500 pages, this alert will highlight some of the more consequential aspects of the proposed regulation, which EPA aims to finalize in 2023. The proposed regulations are ambitious and, if implemented as proposed, will have a significant impact on existing oil and gas