Integrating Environmental and Social Considerations into Natural Gas Supply Decisions

Abstract:

Energy consumers are increasingly focused on the environmental impact of their energy decisions. Many large natural gas purchasers are pursuing initiatives to better understand the environmental footprint of their natural gas supply chains and are exploring opportunities to minimize impacts. Methane emissions leakage from natural gas production operations and the entire supply chain is a priority topic. MJB&A is supporting companies on these topics through the Natural Gas Supply Collaborative, a voluntary collaborative of natural gas purchasers that are promoting safe and responsible practices for natural gas supply.

This paper will review how natural gas purchasers are collaborating with supply chain partners to evaluate methane emissions and to encourage actions to reduce emissions. One key milestone is the development of the Natural Gas Sustainability Initiative’s Methane Emissions Intensity Protocol. This protocol provides a consistent approach for natural gas companies to report normalized methane emissions within each segment of the supply chain. Broad adoption of this voluntary reporting protocol will improve visibility into supply chain emissions and provide greater comparability across supply chain partners.

The paper will also highlight topics requiring additional work to further support integration of environmental considerations into natural gas procurement decisions. These include transparent and consistent criteria for using direct measurement technologies to better gauge methane emissions performance, transparent and consistent criteria for validating reported methane emissions, and approaches for integrating environmental information into a wider range of natural gas market transactions.