As part of its broader efforts to mitigate climate change and protect public health, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has ramped up its efforts to reduce methane and other greenhouse gasses (GHG) from new, modified and reconstructed sources in oil and natural gas production facilities. As part of its Methane Emissions Reduction Program, the EPA requires oil and gas producers to report their GHG data and other relevant information. It has also established a waste emissions charge on methane emissions that exceed specified thresholds.

Failure to comply with these standards doesn’t just end with a one-time fine, however. In the event fugitive emissions are detected at a well site, oil and gas producers must conduct time-consuming tests and surveys on a quarterly basis. They also have a brief window of time to make necessary repairs. Even the largest operations have only two months to repair dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of well heads.

Falling out of compliance with EPA regulations is therefore extremely costly — especially for facilities with thousands of wellheads. Factor in the amount of downtime for repairs, along with the logistical headaches associated with mandatory GHG reporting and testing, and oil and gas producers can face significant losses in terms of time and money.

One technology that eliminates a source of fugitive emissions is the electric solenoid dump valve, which brings the low-power benefits of solenoid operation to the oil and gas sector — particularly, to process valves in upstream applications. These next-generation, all-electric solenoid valves remove all sources of emissions — both vented and fugitive – avoiding EPA noncompliance and all the fees, reporting, testing and downtime that go along with it.