Eni has published it’s first methane emissions report, recognizing the key role abating methane emissions within the Oil and Gas sector can play in the fight against climate change.
Eni believes that natural gas has a role in the energy transition pathway to 2050 because of its affordability, reliability, versatility, and low carbon content compared to other fossil fuels. However, global action is needed to eliminate methane leakage throughout the natural gas value chain.
Eni has been committed to reducing methane emissions in its operations for over a decade. Understanding the urgency to act and the need for in-depth knowledge of its assets has resulted in developing monitoring and mitigation technologies, using them in the field, and implementing an increasingly reliable reporting system aligned with international best practices.
Types of methane emissions and mitigation
In the report, Eni also presents various types of methane emissions, and measures that can be implemented to reduce them. The measures include:
Mitigation of methane emissions from stationary combustion
These emissions are proportional to fuel consumption and combustion efficiency. An approach that evaluates the electricity to the local electric grid by assessing grid availability and reliability and the electric energy carbon footprint assessment. Right-sizing of fired equipment enables it to operate throughout its entire life at optimized working points, maximizing overall system energy efficiency, reducing fuel gas burnt volumes, and achieving optimal combustion efficiency, which enables further reduction of unburnt hydrocarbons, methane, and other pollutants.
Mitigation of methane emissions from flaring
A zero routine flaring policy is applied to all new facility projects (both for revamping brownfield and greenfield initiatives), and non-routine flaring (except for flaring related to safety reasons) is minimized by deploying operative optimizations and maintenance best practices. Flaring is usually minimized during the start-up and commissioning phases and through schedule optimization of commissioning activities. Along with the improvement of flaring equipment and hydrocarbon destruction efficiency to reduce methane emissions, the following measures are always evaluated:
- Use of nitrogen instead of fuel gas as a purge gas
- Flare gas recovery systems (including closed flare deployment opportunities)
Mitigation of methane venting
Methane venting is avoided through process design; each venting source is recovered, or where unfeasible, the streams are burnt, releasing the unburnt component into the atmosphere. The mitigation is achieved by using localized or centralized vapor recovery units.
Mitigation of methane fugitive emissions
Fugitive methane emissions occur due to unintentional releases into the atmosphere resulting from leaking equipment. A desktop study on fugitives can be run after the Front-End Engineering Design phase to identify and classify potential fugitive sources and set up LDAR campaigns from the time of the plant start-up. Operating, inspection, testing, and maintenance procedures are planned for a comprehensive monitoring program. Specific testing against fugitives can also be run before installing critical equipment, such as valves.
Our strong focus on methane emissions abatement, coupled with the application of new technologies has positioned Eni as an industry leader and significantly reduced our methane emissions over the past decade.
… said Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni
