Key US gas players target Appalachian methane emissions

A group of key US natural gas players – led by EQT, Chesapeake Energy and Equitrans Midstream – said January 11 they had launched the Appalachian Methane Initiative (AMI), a coalition committed to monitoring and reducing emissions in the Appalachian Basin.

EQT and Chesapeake are two of the top five gas producers in the US – EQT leads that list – while Equitrans is one of the country’s leading midstream service providers. AMI will work to enhance the identification and mitigation of potential fugitive methane emissions through coordinated satellite and aerial surveys and share best practices in mitigating methane emissions from natural gas operations.

“As an industry, we have an important role to play in both meeting global energy needs and reducing climate change risks,” Chesapeake CEO Nick Dell’Osso said. “The AMI coalition offers an opportunity to better measure and understand our emissions profiles as we work to reduce the environmental impact of natural gas production and answer the call for affordable, reliable and lower carbon energy.”

Appalachia is the richest natural gas basin in the US and also boasts among the lowest methane emissions intensities in the world, and AMI will build on that achievement, EQT CEO Toby Rice said.

“Applying a basin-wide, sector-agnostic approach to methane monitoring will not only allow accountability for methane emissions from all emitters, we believe it will eliminate any doubt – whether from policy-makers, customers, or the general public – that Appalachian natural gas is the cleanest form of traditional energy in the world,” he said.

AMI intends to develop and implement a pilot monitoring program in 2023 to cover select areas of interest within the major operating footprints of the Appalachian Basin, with the goal of implementing a basin-wide monitoring plan in 2024.