Optimizing Facility Design

API member companies are investing resources to evaluate, enhance and optimize facility designs to better prevent methane leaks and to identify opportunities to retrofit existing facilities.

Oil and natural gas companies are implementing design improvements to reduce methane emissions and keep natural gas product in the pipe. These improvements include electrifying operations, enhancing the reliability of storage tank facilities, and eliminating high methane-emitting infrastructure.

• The Environmental Partnership’s Pneumatic Controller Program: A major component of remote, automated control of natural gas and petroleum industry facilities is the operation of control valves, which are often powered by natural gas through pneumatic controllers that release small amounts of methane. Because pneumatic controllers are so prevalent, they comprise a major source of emissions. This program seeks to replace, remove or retrofit high-bleed pneumatic controllers used in the operation of control valves and replace them with lower-bleed options. More than 60,000 controllers have been replaced, removed or installed.