A handful of Oklahoma energy companies were among some of the top firms cited in a first-of-its-kind report detailing methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide emissions.
The Benchmarking Methane and other GHG Emissions of Oil and Natural Gas Production in the United States report by Ceres and the Clean Air Task Force showed the emissions from nearly 300 U.S. oil and gas producers and revealed what the report called “dramatic variability between companies and basins.
Chesapeake Energy was ranked third in the report followed by Devon Energy at 8, Continental Resources Inc. at 9, Ovintiv at 11, Ascent Resources at 17 and WPX Energy at 27 on a list of the top 100 hydro carbon producers.
Of the 295 top oil and natural gas producers with reported data, the top 100 were responsible for nearly 80% of the total reported methane and GHG emissions in 2019. But the report also showed that production rank along did not correspond to emissions rank.
The hydrocarbon production and associated GHG emissions, according to the Benchmark report were concentrated in a small number of basins. In 2019, the five largest basins including the Anadarko where Oklahoma is located were responsible for 66% of the total reported natural gas production, 80% of total reported oil production and 51% of total reported methane emissions.