Department of Energy Methane Funding: Monitor, Measure, Mitigate

Up to $32 million will be provided by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to fund research and development of technologies to measure and reduce methane emissions in oil and gas production. DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management funds research and projects to reduce the carbon footprint of power generation and industrial production, and to mitigate the impact of fossil fuel production and utilization.

This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is intended to make U.S. natural gas infrastructure more efficient while supporting global methane emissions reduction.

The FOA seeks project proposals (application deadline October 4, 2022) to develop an integrated methane sensor network to accelerate the pace of identifying, monitoring, and reducing emissions across wide areas of U.S. gas production, storage, and transportation.

Areas of Interest (AOIs) for the FOA:

AOI 1 – Mitigation of Methane Emissions from Upstream/Midstream Sources

AOI 2 – Surface-based Methane Monitoring and Measurement Network Pilot Demonstration

AOI 3 – Basin-Specific Methane Emissions Inventory via Field Assessments

AOI 4 – Integrated Methane Monitoring Platform Design

AOI 5 - Storage Tank Emissions Assessment and Quantification (STEAQ)

Power generation using natural gas produces half the CO2 emissions of coal, but leakage can negatively affect this fuel tradeoff making leak detection and remediation imperative for the production of clean energy.

Metrics for Mitigation

Surface-based sensor networks for accurately detecting and quantifying methane emissions over large areas would help reduce the approximately 8 million tons of methane (~ 200 million tons of CO2) that U.S. oil and gas infrastructure emits annually. Integrating these networks will allow timely and accurate estimates of methane emissions and remediation of GHG leakage.

Leak-Tight U.S. Natural Gas Supply Chain

It is estimated that reductions could result in the emissions equivalent of taking 400,000 vehicles off the road. Monitoring, measuring, and mitigating methane is essential to ensuring clean production of natural gas for decades to come.

For operators who have identified fugitive emissions at the wellsite, BioSqueeze® provides the most effective solution for permanently eliminating leaks. BioSqueeze® consistently seals leaks that other technologies have failed repeatedly to remediate and has saved operators hundreds of thousands by eliminating “runaway wells”.

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