Oil & Gas Sector Emissions
The Oil and Gas sector impacts Oklahoma’s air quality. Here are our steps to identify and quantify emissions from this sector.
The oil and gas sector is one of the largest sources of employment and revenue in the state. When the various segments are combined (exploration, production, gathering, processing, storage, transmission, and distribution), this sector represents one of the largest emitters of VOC and NOx in Oklahoma. For this reason, it is important to have reasonably accurate information concerning facilities (reasonable estimates for small facilities and accurate information for large facilities) and, when combined, robust estimates of emissions from this sector. Therefore, DEQ’s Emissions Inventory Section has prioritized improving the characterization and accuracy of oil and gas sector data submitted to the National Emissions Inventory (NEI). Emissions data for the oil and gas sector come from two main sources:
- The annual point source inventory of permitted facilities and
- Nonpoint emissions from the National Nonpoint Oil and Gas Emissions Estimation Tool.
The Tool is used to estimate emissions from oil and gas exploration activities (drilling operations, well completions, etc.), unpermitted well sites, and unpermitted compressor stations. The Tool uses well counts, production data, and basin-specific emission factors to estimate emissions aggregated at the county level. The “History of Emissions Estimates” tab documents the improvements that have been made in estimating oil and gas sector emissions,.
Facility Type | Before 2008 | 2008 NEI | 2011 NEI | 2014 NEI |
Not inventoried | CenRAP Study | National Oil & Gas Tool | National Oil & Gas Tool + aggregated permitted wells | |
Inventoried but not submitted to EPA | Inventoried and submitted to EPA as an aggregated nonpoint source | Inventoried and submitted to EPA as point sources | ||
Inventoried and submitted to EPA, as required by CERR | Inventoried and submitted to EPA, as required by AERR |
The Emissions Inventory Section has submitted oil and gas emissions for the 2017 National Emissions Inventory. This page will be expanded in the future.