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Subsidiary XTO Energy implementing program to reduce methane emissions
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Program covers production and midstream sites
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Collaboration with ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company focuses on new
technologies
ExxonMobil
today announced an enhanced program to reduce methane emissions from its
production and midstream facilities across the United States.
The program, which builds on the company’s longstanding
commitment to emissions reduction, prioritizes actions at sites
operated by subsidiary XTO Energy and includes efforts to develop and
deploy new, more efficient technologies to detect and reduce facility
emissions.
“We are implementing an enhanced leak detection and repair program
across our production and midstream sites to continually reduce methane
emissions, and are also evaluating opportunities to upgrade facilities
and improve efficiency at both current and future sites,” said XTO
president Sara Ortwein. “Our comprehensive initiative is underscored by
a technology research and testing effort, and includes personnel
training, equipment phase out and facility design improvements.”
The program includes a commitment to phase out high-bleed pneumatic
devices over three years, extensive personnel training, research, and
facility design improvements for new operations.
XTO recently completed a pilot project in the Midland Basin that tested
new low-emission designs that use compressed air instead of natural gas
to operate pneumatic equipment that helps regulate conditions such as
level, flow, pressure and temperature. The results successfully
demonstrated the feasibility of using similar designs for new and
existing central tank batteries and satellites, to reduce the potential
for methane emissions.
XTO’s efforts also include research conducted with ExxonMobil Upstream
Research Company and third-party equipment manufacturers to continue
development of more efficient, state-of-the-art equipment to detect,
quantify and reduce emissions at production sites. These research
efforts build on an extensive portfolio of more than two dozen existing
methane research projects and pilots already under way.
Earlier this year, ExxonMobil, National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, and others evaluated the use of aircraft-mounted leak
detection surveys to guide equipment repair, and continue to assess the
use of satellite, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles, and mobile and
ground-based technologies to refine the company’s methane monitoring.
“Combining our field experience with the research capabilities at
ExxonMobil upstream research provides us with unique insights as we look
to develop and deploy new, more efficient technologies,” Ortwein said.
As part of the company’s efforts to better understand the magnitude and
characteristics of oil and gas industry-related methane emissions,
ExxonMobil participated in studies
conducted by the University of Texas and Environmental Defense Fund.
ExxonMobil remains active in ongoing methane research, including
participation in a methane measurement reconciliation study with the
Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and in
supporting research currently underway at Harvard, the University of
Texas Energy Initiative, and Stanford University’s Natural
Gas Initiative.
About ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil, the largest publicly traded international oil and gas
company, uses technology and innovation to help meet the world’s growing
energy needs. ExxonMobil holds an industry-leading inventory of
resources, is one of the largest refiners and marketers of petroleum
products and its chemical company is one of the largest in the world.
For more information, visit www.exxonmobil.com
or follow us on Twitter www.twitter.com/exxonmobil.
Cautionary Statement: Statements of future
events or conditions in this release are forward-looking statements.
Actual future results, including project plans and timing and the impact
of operational and technology improvements, could vary depending on the
ability to scale pilot projects; the outcome of research efforts and
future technology developments; regulatory developments; and other
factors discussed in this release and under the heading “Factors
Affecting Future Results” on the Investors page of ExxonMobil’s website
at exxonmobil.com.
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