Joint Message from Chairs and Director
The Environmental Partnership (TEP) participants continue to make significant progress and remain committed to reducing emissions. From the beginning, participants have committed to reducing emissions within their operations through innovative facility design, improvements in operational practices and procedures, advancements in detecting and measuring emissions, and improved accuracy in data emissions reporting.
The Partnership was formed in 2017 to provide a space for operators to learn from one another about methane reduction solutions and strategies and to leverage that collective knowledge to improve the industry’s environmental performance. Our membership represents a diverse range of companies and includes small and large operators within and across multiple oil and natural gas segments. This diversity of perspectives contributes significantly to the robust operator-to-operator sharing that is at the heart of The Partnership’s three principles of learning, collaborating and taking action.
Reducing methane emissions is a complex puzzle with many pieces, and each puzzle is unique to an individual operator’s makeup. There is not “a one size fits all” solution. Companies implement different methane mitigation approaches and strategies based on basin and regional characteristics, types of assets, company size, and the company’s individual emissions reduction goals. TEP helps participating companies navigate the wide range of solutions, make informed decisions on solutions that work best for their operations, and successfully assemble their unique methane reduction puzzle.
Industry’s success can be seen in the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that shows that methane emissions from U.S. onshore oil & natural gas fell by 42% between 2015-2023. This reduction progress is owed to the ingenuity, creativity, and know-how of many of the individuals at our participating companies who have worked tirelessly to identify solutions and volunteer to share their expertise with others. Their ingenuity and commitment to tackling emissions are apparent in the Industry Spotlights highlighted throughout this report.
Each year, our annual report provides TEP with the opportunity to reflect on the achievements and advancements made since 2017 its start in and also to look towards the future and consider how we can better support our membership as they work to meet the dual challenge of increasing energy production while forging ahead on environmental progress.
Once again, participants made great strides across TEP’s environmental performance programs and took steps to advance best practices to reduce emissions. Through TEP’s Leak Detection and Repair Performance Program reporting, we see that TEP companies are doing more – using more detection technologies, inspecting more sites and facilities, and conducting inspections more frequently – and when they find a leak, they are fixing them faster. Companies inspected over 199,000 sites, two-thirds of which were monitored voluntarily beyond regulatory requirements. And similarly, TEP’s 2024 flare study highlighted operator attentiveness in flare maintenance and performance to reduce emissions, showing that for the flares tested, 88.95% were above 98% destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) and 99.45% were above 95% DRE.
We are proud of the significant work our members have accomplished towards supporting emissions reduction progress and advancing environmental solutions. Although solutions may vary company to company, the one constant is that TEP participating companies are all committed to working together to responsibly develop our nation’s essential oil and natural gas resources while continuing to enhance environmental performance.
