Colorado can eliminate emissions from legacy oil production facilities and significantly improve air quality

Oil and Gas 360

OPINION: Eyal Aronoff is Chief Executive Officer of Pioneer Energy. Pioneer Energy will be giving a presentation at 4:10pm Central Time on Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at The Energy Venture Summit at EnerCom Dallas at Hotel Crescent Court, Uptown Dallas.  Pioneer Energy designs and fabricates proprietary hydrocarbon processing systems that capture or eliminate emissions sources and turn otherwise wasted or flared gas and liquid streams into revenue generating products.

EnerCom Dallas is an energy-focused investment conference that provides institutional investors the opportunity to hear presentation from a broad group of public and private energy companies, as well as innovative start-up ventures.  The two-day conference provides in-person access to energy company senior leadership and allows investors to meet one-on-one with management teams.  The Energy Venture Investment Summit at EnerCom Dallas will featuring quick-pitch investment sessions from promising start-up energy and technology companies focused on innovation and operations in alternative energy, advanced oil and gas technology and environmental sustainability.

There is no cost to attend EnerCom Dallas and The Energy Venture Investment Summit at EnerCom Dallas for qualified investors.  Investors can now register to attend at www.enercomdallas.com and have the opportunity to request 1×1 meetings with presenting companies.

For more information about Pioneer Energy, please visit their website at: www.pioneerenergy.com; or contact Nicole Lane at nlane@pioneerenergy.com. For more information about EnerCom Dallas; or to learn how to apply to be a presenting company at The Energy Venture Investment Summit at EnerCom Dallas; please contact Dan Genovese at dgenovese@enercominc.com.   

It was a gorgeous crisp February morning in Colorado. I picked up a friend from the Denver International Airport and we headed north to the local oil fields to see a new technology deployed to eliminate emissions from oil production. The sky was crystal clear, with bright Colorado sun, no wind, and a fantastic view of the snow-covered peaks of the front range. As we were driving, my friend noticed a change in the visibility. He said, “What happened? The sky here looks like Los Angeles.” I told him, “Welcome to the oil patch.”

In November of 2022, the state published a revised “emissions inventory table,” in other words, a listing of top polluters in the state.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2022/11/09/2022-24075/air-plan-approval-colorado-serious-attainment-plan-elements-and-related-revisions-for-the-2008

The emissions inventory table shows that existing oil and gas production facilities in the state contribute more to air pollutant emissions than both transportation and power generation combined. In fact, electricity generation in the state contributes so little to air pollution that even if we replace every power station with solar and wind, there will be no noticeable effect on the quality of our air.

Colorado is proud to be the leader in environmentally friendly oil production. When it comes to air pollution, our state has the most restrictive safeguards. Yet the state is still in nonattainment with federal air quality standards, and the emissions inventory clearly shows that oil and gas production in the state is the biggest contributor to the problem. How is that possible?

The answer is simple; these emissions are coming from existing facilities permitted before air pollution became such a big problem in the state. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of such facilities. The good news is that new facilities are planned and built with fewer emissions. But if we want to make a positive impact on air quality here in Colorado, something should be done to reduce emissions from old, outdated facilities.

Last year, the United States Congress passed legislation allocating budgets for state and local governments to fund emissions reduction projects in the state. Colorado, in particular, can benefit from those budgets. The state can use federal government funds already appropriated to create incentive programs to address emissions from existing sources. And while in the past, there was not much the oil companies could have done, new technology is now available to dramatically reduce emissions from those old sources.

In fact, Colorado is fast becoming the Silicon Valley for these new technologies – ones that measure, report, and remediate emissions from oil and gas production. The Colorado School of Mines and companies like Project Canary, EcoVapor, and Pioneer Energy are all working to help the oil industry adhere to the state’s stringent emissions standards. This means that federal dollars that can be allocated to Colorado will end up being spent right here in the state. Many in the industry acknowledge that the future is to move into zero-emissions production facilities nationwide. Having Colorado companies implement solutions here in the state will give Colorado a first-mover advantage in this nascent new space of emissions reduction from oil production and build on Colorado’s history of being a leader in environmentally responsible oil production.

With only a small fraction of the funds available in the Inflation Reduction Act, Colorado can eliminate the emissions from every legacy oil production facility and significantly improve air quality in the state while driving economic growth and prosperity. All that we need is for the state to apply for these funds.