(WO) – Oil and gas trade groups are welcoming the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed second phase of revisions to its methane regulations for new and existing oil and gas operations. The proposal reconsiders several provisions of the Clean Air Act rules known as OOOOb and OOOOc, adopted in 2023. They include requirements that affect smaller, lower-producing wells, which according to the Western Energy Alliance account for about 10% of U.S. oil and gas production. The announcement follows IPAA’s statement earlier this week on the revisions.
According to the American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC), Phase 2 will address the remaining issues it and API raised in reconsideration petitions filed in 2024. Those issues include storage vessel modification definitions, standards for covers and closed vent systems, control device testing methods, alternative fugitive emission detection technology and the super-emitter program. In Phase 1, completed earlier this year, the EPA revised temporary flaring provisions for associated gas in emergencies and changed monitoring and testing requirements for control devices. The agency signaled earlier this month that further revisions were coming.
“AXPC applauds Administrator Lee Zeldin and the EPA for taking action to improve OOOOb/c provisions that are technically infeasible, logistically impractical, or impose impossible compliance obligations on America’s oil and natural gas industry,” said AXPC CEO Anne Bradbury. She said the proposal “represents an important step toward a workable regulatory framework.”
Melissa Simpson, president of the Western Energy Alliance, said federal rules need to reflect regional differences and the role of marginal wells. “They also need to account for marginal wells that may be small individually, but together produce a meaningful share of American production,” she said.
The groups’ figures show why marginal wells matter. IPAA says they make up more than 75% of U.S. producing wells, while the Western Energy Alliance puts their share of national production at about 10%. Industry groups argue the 2023 rules, as written, risk forcing shut-ins at these wells and raising compliance costs without meaningful environmental benefit.
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