FUTURE OF OIL & GAS
Designing a future interdisciplinary and shared research agenda to understand the role of oil and gas in the energy transition
Designing a future interdisciplinary and shared research agenda to understand the role of oil and gas in the energy transition
As the world confronts an energy transition, the global energy system is being re-imagined and the role of oil and natural gas in that transition is not entirely clear. Governments are pursuing increasingly ambitious initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and diversify their energy systems. At the same time, the world is facing significant energy demand growth from emerging and developing economies. The dual pressures of reducing their carbon footprint, while also providing the necessary resources to fuel energy growth creates another layer of complexity for the oil and gas industry.
Mines and the world
The Payne Institute extends to public policy Mines’ conviction that energy and the environment must– and can – fruitfully coexist. We are in an enviable position to tap into a deep well of on-campus and alumni leaders in industry and environmental groups around the world. We foster collaboration with a focus on problem-solving rather than furthering entrenched agendas.
COLORADO
Colorado has been at the forefront of establishing regulations for the oil and gas industry and working in a coherent inclusive manner between the industry and other stakeholders. That form of broad engagement based on science should continue. It will serve to both evolve the discussion in the state and at the local level, but also serve as a lodestar for the national and global discussion.
NEWS
Greenhouse Gases Life Cycle Assessment for Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas 4/23/2024
Greenhouse Gases Life Cycle Assessment for Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian contributed to this report from the National Petroleum Institute on titled Reducing GHG Emissions from the U.S. Natural Gas Supply Chain. His contributions were made to Chapter 4 – Greenhouse Gases Life Cycle Assessment for Natural Gas and Liquefied Natural Gas. The chapter introduces the fundamental concepts of LCA, discusses modeling GHG emissions from U.S. natural gas and LNG supply chains, quantifies life cycle GHG emissions, and explores application of LCAs in public and corporate policies. April 23, 2024.
Jennifer Miskimins nominated as 2026 president of Society of Petroleum Engineers 4/17/2024
Jennifer Miskimins nominated as 2026 president of Society of Petroleum Engineers
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Jennifer Miskimins, professor and head of the Petroleum Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines, has been nominated to serve as the 2026 president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), the premier global organization for oil and gas professionals. Dr. Miskimins is a Mines alum, Miskimins has 30 years of industry experience and has led Petroleum Engineering Department since 2020. April 17, 2024.
Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules Must Sync With Biden’s Climate Agenda 4/10/2024
Hydrogen Tax Credit Rules Must Sync With Biden’s Climate Agenda
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Deputy Director Greg Clough, and Responsible Gas Program Advisor Simon Lomax write about how President Joe Biden’s climate change agenda is more aggressive than anything previously in US energy and environmental policy. But involving many federal departments and agencies in administering these initiatives introduces risks that must be managed, such as the danger of disorganization and conflicting policies from different parts of the US government that will make reducing carbon emissions slower and more expensive. April 10, 2024.
Making Sense of the U.S. LNG Pause: Five Key Data Points 4/9/2024
Making Sense of the U.S. LNG Pause: Five Key Data Points
Payne Institute Director Morgan Bazilian, Deputy Director Greg Clough, and Responsible Gas Program Advisor Simon Lomax write about how the Biden administration’s pause on liquefied natural gas (LNG) export approvals will be over in a matter of months. They provide five data points offer some critical clues. April 9, 2024.
Colorado School of Mines, Chevron announce partnership for Global Energy Future Initiative 4/8/2024
Colorado School of Mines, Chevron announce partnership for Global Energy Future Initiative
Mines Global Energy Future Initiative Vice President John Bradford contributes to an article about a new partnership between the Colorado School of Mines and Chevron to support the Mines Global Energy Future Initiative. Through this partnership, Chevron will sponsor research projects and participate in steering committees and working groups, adding industry expertise to solve complex problems related to the energy transition. April 8, 2024.
Greening the black gold? How private carbon finance can tackle oil & gas 4/5/2024
Greening the black gold? How private carbon finance can tackle oil & gas
Payne Institute Sustainable Finance Lab Program Manager Brad Handler writes about how a set of entrepreneurs in the U.S. are considering how carbon finance and the Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCM) can be harnessed in new ways to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Their target: oil and natural gas wells. These entrepreneurs are looking across the “lifecycle” of a well or a whole oilfield and, in the process, targeting different GHGs. April 5, 2024.
Panel of lawmakers considers whether carbon capture holds future in Colorado 4/1/2024
Panel of lawmakers considers whether carbon capture holds future in Colorado
Payne Institute CCUS Program Manager Anna Littlefield contributed to this article about how as Colorado aims to achieve 100% net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050, leaders of key state agencies argue that they can’t meet that goal without employing carbon-capture-and-sequestration techniques in hard-to-decarbonize sectors. Ensuring the state has tools to allow and regulate such operations as fossil-fuel usage continues for the foreseeable future is a “strategic step to expediting the process.” April 1, 2024.
Hydropower production took a hit in 2023 3/28/2024
Hydropower production took a hit in 2023
Payne Institute Faculty Fellow Adrienne Marshall is on this podcast discussing how U.S. hydropower production was down 11% from the year before and dipped to a 22-year low last year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. To make up for the hydro deficit, the U.S. bought natural gas power, which emits more carbon than hydro does, as well as some solar energy. March 28, 2024.
New Method for Tracking Down Methane Emissions on Oil and Gas Sites 3/27/2024
New Method for Tracking Down Methane Emissions on Oil and Gas Sites
Payne Institute Student Researcher William Daniels, Faculty Fellow Dorit Hammerling, and Director Morgan Bazilian write about how reducing methane emissions is a key component of short-term climate action. Empirical data and transparent models are key pillars of emission reduction efforts. Payne Institute researchers William Daniels, Meng Jia, and Dorit Hammerling have developed a completely open-source analytical framework for detecting single-source methane emissions, determining the source location, and estimating an emission rate using data from continuous monitoring systems (CMS). March 27, 2024.
Detection, localization, and quantification of single-source methane emissions on oil and gas production sites using point-in-space continuous monitoring systems 3/20/2024
Detection, localization, and quantification of single-source methane emissions on oil and gas production sites using point-in-space continuous monitoring systems
Payne Institute Student Researchers William S. Daniels and Meng Jia, and Faculty Fellow Dorit M. Hammerling write about how they propose a modular framework for methane emission detection, localization, and quantification on oil and gas production sites that uses concentration and wind data from point-in-space continuous monitoring systems. The framework leverages a gradient-based spike detection algorithm to estimate emission start and end times (event detection) and pattern matches simulated and observed concentrations to estimate emission source location (localization) and rate (quantification). March 20, 2024.
For more information about the Future of Oil & Gas Research Area at the Payne Institute for Public Policy, please contact our Deputy Director, Gregory Clough, at gclough@mines.edu.