ExxonMobil Will Start Network Of Methane Sensors In Permian Basin Sometime In 2021 or 2022 . . .

[hatrack]

The University of Texas, Austin, announced a project this week in conjunction with Exxon Mobil Corp., nonprofits and other companies to monitor methane emissions in the oil-rich Permian Basin through a continuously operating network of sensors. The Project Astra initiative will install sensors that provide data on a roughly hourly basis, according to David Allen, lead investigator on the project and a professor of chemical engineering at UT Austin.

While some isolated sites already do continuous monitoring, the network seeks to monitor emissions continuously across a broad oil- and gas-producing region, Allen said, and will provide emissions information about individual sites.

"This project has incredible potential and will open new pathways for companies to find and reduce methane emissions from the more than 1 million existing oil and gas wells in the United States," Allen said in a statement. The project anticipates hundreds of sensors, a network UT Austin called a "first-of-its-kind" for monitoring emissions across an oil- and gas-producing region.

The university is working with the Environmental Defense Fund, Exxon Mobil, Pioneer Natural Resources Co. and the Gas Technology Institute on the partnership. Officials from each of those organizations serve on the project's steering committee.

EDIT

https://www.eenews.net/energywire/2020/05/22/stories/1063199867

http://dept.ceer.utexas.edu/ceer/astra/index.cfm

[walkingman]

1. Great News!! The BIG question is what happens when they exceed allowable emissions. TCEQ which

is responsible for monitoring and regulating the fossil fuel companies have been hsitorically lax on enforcement. So bad that most think of them being controlled by the fossil fuel companies. They have ignored extreme violation for decades so it sounds good but Texas continues to cause dirty air/water and until we a change in State leadership nothing but talk is all that will happen.

I'm skeptical that this is nothing more than a "marketing" by these nasty industries to take away some of the heat from their egregious behavior.

[hatrack]

2. My default position - it's greenwashing, because it pretty much always is

They'll roll out this pilot project in a state that has never shown any interest in limiting petroleum production.

Maybe, someday, similar measurements might be mandated, but certainly not in Texas.

And then ExxonMobil will point and shout "See?! We Care(TM)!!" for years to come.

[walkingman]

4. I wasn't aware of that term - Thank you. That is exactly what it is. Great to see others like

yourself that know the real story. The Fossil fuel industry basically control this nation - not just Texas. However, Texas is the worst.

I live in a rural area near Austin and even here, depending on the wind direction, we can smell the *stink* for miles. Many used to call the Austin fire department complaining and they responded calling it the "Luling Effect" - a natural gas-like smell in the air around Austin caused by the oil fields in Luling and Lockhart Tx.

There is a reason that MD Anderson Cancer Hospital is located in Houston - we are the cancer capital of America.

[Finishline42]

3. Yikes!!!

find and reduce methane emissions from the more than 1 million existing oil and gas wells in the United States,

Unbelievable how many wells there are.

Curious how many there were prior to fracking becoming prevalent?