Benchmarking Methane and Other GHG Emissions of Oil & Natural Gas Production in the United States

The report analyzes 2019 emissions data for U.S. onshore oil and gas production, finding that emissions are highly concentrated among a small number of producers and basins. It highlights significant variance in emissions intensity across companies and identifies pneumatic controllers and fuel combustion equipment as primary sources of methane and CO2 emissions, respectively. The analysis also notes that official reported data likely underestimate actual emissions due to the omission of high-emitting abnormal process conditions and facilities below reporting thresholds.

• A small number of producers dominate emissions; the top 100 oil and gas producers by total energy were responsible for nearly 80% of total reported methane and GHG emissions in 2019.
• Emissions are geographically concentrated, with the five largest basins by total oil and gas production accounting for 51% of total reported methane emissions and 78% of total reported CO2 emissions in 2019.
• There is extreme variation in emissions intensity among producers: natural gas producers in the highest quartile of methane emissions intensity average nearly 22 times the intensity of those in the lowest quartile, while oil and gas producers in the highest GHG intensity quartile average nearly 10 times that of the lowest quartile.
• Pneumatic controllers are the primary source of methane emissions in the production segment, accounting for 54% of total reported methane emissions.
• Fuel combustion equipment, including heaters and engines, is the leading source of CO2 emissions in the production segment, responsible for 49% of total reported CO2 emissions.
• Associated gas venting and flaring contribute significantly to GHG emissions in oil-heavy basins, such as the Permian basin where it accounts for 25% of total GHG emissions, but are negligible in gas-heavy basins like the Appalachian basin.
• Reported data from the GHGRP likely underestimate actual emissions because the methodology does not properly account for infrequent, high-emitting abnormal process conditions and excludes facilities emitting less than 25,000 metric tons of CO2e per year.
• The report identifies that abandoned oil and gas wells are a significant source of methane emissions that are not captured in the GHGRP data used for this analysis.

APA

LaCount, R., Curry, T., Hellgren, L., & Russell, P. (2021). Benchmarking Methane and Other GHG Emissions of Oil & Natural Gas Production in the United States. Clean Air Task Force. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/21092243/OilandGas_BenchmarkingReport_FINAL.pdf

Chicago

LaCount, Robert, Tom Curry, Luke Hellgren, and Pye Russell. Benchmarking Methane and Other GHG Emissions of Oil & Natural Gas Production in the United States. Clean Air Task Force, 2021. https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/21092243/OilandGas_BenchmarkingReport_FINAL.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=LaCount |first1=Robert |last2=Curry |first2=Tom |last3=Hellgren |first3=Luke |last4=Russell |first4=Pye |title=Benchmarking Methane and Other GHG Emissions of Oil & Natural Gas Production in the United States |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=June 2021 |url=https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/21092243/OilandGas_BenchmarkingReport_FINAL.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{lacount2021benchmarking, author = {LaCount, Robert and Curry, Tom and Hellgren, Luke and Russell, Pye}, title = {{Benchmarking Methane and Other GHG Emissions of Oil \& Natural Gas Production in the United States}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2021}, month = jun, url = {https://cdn.catf.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/21092243/OilandGas_BenchmarkingReport_FINAL.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }