AUSTIN – Methane emissions in Texas continue to decline in top oil and natural gas producing areas across the state, according to a new analysis released today by Texans for Natural Gas. No where was this more apparent than in the top producing region in Texas and the nation, the Permian Basin.
Key highlights from the analysis found:
• The Permian Basin reached one of its lowest methane intensity levels this decade in 2023, at 0.49 metric tons per barrel of oil equivalent (MT/boe). Since 2011, Permian methane intensity has declined nearly 83 percent, even as total production increased 482 percent in the same time frame.
• Flaring intensity in the Permian Basin in 2023 was 65 percent lower than in 2015 – when flaring reached a decade high. 2023 saw a slight uptick in intensity compared to 2022 levels, due to a unique confluence of factors, including record oil and natural gas production, depressed Waha Hub prices, and takeaway capacity constraints, yet overall accomplishments in emission reductions remained.
• Preliminary reporting indicates that the increases in Permian Basin flaring intensity in 2023 were likely an anomaly, with estimates showing a reduction of approximately 14 percent in 2024.
• Texas’s flaring intensity in 2023 declined 47 percent since its peak in 2018. Total production has increased nearly 25 percent in that same time frame, with 2023 being the second-highest oil and natural gas production year on record in the Lone Star State, behind 2024’s record numbers.
• The United States reached record levels of oil and natural gas production in 2023, increasing nearly 9 percent since 2022 while maintaining flaring intensity near its lowest levels since 2012 at 2 meters cubed per barrel of oil (m3/bbl).
“Thanks to constant innovation and improvements in production processes as well as increased use of new technologies such as AI, the oil and natural gas industry is making incredible progress protecting the environment and bolstering our energy security,” said Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association. “Producing the irreplaceable resources that fuel modern life and safeguarding the environment are not mutually exclusive, and this report further underscores this industry’s continued commitment to achieve both while also making us cleaner, stronger, and better.”
The Permian’s record levels of production in 2023, combined with the region’s overall reductions in methane and flaring intensity, mark important progress for the industry as the United States hit the second-highest record for oil and gas production that year, with the Permian providing roughly two-thirds of all U.S. natural gas production.
+++
Founded in 1919, TXOGA is the oldest and largest oil and gas trade association in Texas representing every facet of the industry.