When you’re a natural gas operator, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are top of mind. Identifying areas of improvement and acting on them is vital to a responsible and efficient operator.
At Cabot, we’ve created a Greenhouse Gas Team that reviews our emissions on an ongoing basis. Through their efforts and others, we’re proud to say that our GHG emissions intensity was reduced by 58% from 2019 to 2020. Our methane emissions intensity was also reduced by 70% during the same period. It’s important to note that we achieved these reduction goals while not decreasing our production rate.
We chose to work diligently and prioritize strategic initiatives we knew would make a clear improvement.
The first of these initiatives was to develop a system that accurately meters and measures our overall emissions on a real-time basis. In doing this, we’ve seen a dramatic decrease in overall emissions in 2020.
The second initiative was voluntarily converting all our pneumatic pumps from natural gas power to electricity, an achievement met in 2020. Our efforts resulted in the equivalent of removing 3,356 passenger vehicles from the road for one year!
Next, we focused on converting our equipment to clean burning natural gas rather than diesel fuel. By deploying CNG (compressed natural gas) vehicles and equipment, we now have more efficient engines and fewer combustion byproducts being released.
Lastly, we looked at leak detection and repair (LDAR). Our teams conduct frequent site inspections and utilize optical gas imaging (OGI) cameras. With this technology, we’re able to quickly identify and repair any leaks found.
Please visit our 2020 Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Report for more information on our greenhouse gas or sustainability initiatives.
