Executive summary

In December 2023, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a new rule that will reduce methane emissions from oil and gas operations, which are, according to the EPA’s fact sheet, “the largest industrial source of methane pollution in the U.S.” With this rule now final and its effective date approaching, the time is now for oil and gas operators to not only ensure their compliance with the rule, but also to take advantage of the new opportunities it presents.

We have prepared this article to unpack the rule’s requirements and opportunities.

The EPA has designed the rule to be flexible. Operators will have time to bring existing equipment into compliance. In the meantime, operators of both new and existing methane emissions sources will be able to leverage the latest technologies in methane emissions monitoring to not only detect and reduce fugitive methane emissions at well sites, centralized production facilities and compressor stations, but to streamline monitoring processes.

Nubo Sphere, as a leading continuous monitoring solution, will be here to support oil and gas operators on the road to success through this emerging regulatory landscape. Especially while Canada and the European Union are simultaneously finalizing similar regulations promoting the use of advanced technologies.

This article provides guidance to the rule's terms and subparts relevant to oil and gas operators. It also includes a timeline for compliance—for operators of new and existing infrastructure alike. These first two sections are the groundwork for our analysis of how these regulatory changes will affect oil and gas operators.

Throughout the rule, it's clear that the EPA intends to incentivize the use of advanced technologies both in the short and middle term. To that end, they have developed work processes for, among other things, continuous monitoring. We have included a section analyzing how this, specifically, will look for operators.

Finally, this article includes a look at the new Super Emitter Program. This program introduces third-party monitoring for large emissions events. Acting in concert with methane charges introduced under the Inflation Reduction Act and new standards for GHG reporting, it will be a powerful deterrent to super emitter emissions events. Once again, continuous monitoring stands to help operators.

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