EPA finds rising methane emissions: UpdateOREANDA-NEWS. April 18, 2016. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a major reversal said today methane emissions from the US oil and gas sector rose by 8pc from 2005-2014, rather than declining as previously thought.

The new data released today could undercut a key argument US oil and gas companies have made in their push to avoid federal methane regulations. Industry trade group the American Petroleum Institute (API) has repeatedly said US methane rules were not needed because the industry was already reducing methane on its own.

EPA revised the emissions figures after discovering it was using outdated techniques for estimating oil and gas sector emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. These old methods did not accurately reflect the amount of methane EPA found was actually leaking out of valves, compressor, vents, gathering systems and other oil and gas equipment.

Using new methane estimation techniques, EPA found emissions from the oil and gas sector increased during the period.

This is the opposite of what regulators and the industry had interpreted from long-term methane data EPA published last year, which showed oil and gas sector methane emissions had fallen 9pc between 2005-2013.

Methane is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide though it dissipates in the atmosphere more quickly than CO2.

The methane emissions increase coincides with the US shale drilling boom. US natural gas production increased by 42pc between 2005-2014, while oil production increased 68pc.

EPA administrator Gina McCarthy frequently has cited the new data this year when explaining why the agency was pushing forward with regulations. EPA plans to finalize methane rules for new oil and gas sources this year. This month it plans to take the first steps toward regulating existing sources.

Oil industry groups noted that EPA's data, even after the revisions, still showed methane emissions declined slightly from 1990-2014, falling about 0.5pc. But they also raised doubts about the accuracy of EPA's new techniques for estimating methane emissions.

"EPA has made a significant change in its inventory methodology, and we believe it is seriously flawed," API regulatory and economic policy vice president Kyle Isakower said. "Even as oil and natural gas production has risen dramatically, we believe methane emissions from production are falling as shown by previous EPA greenhouse gas inventories."

The industry trade group Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) noted that the increase in natural gas production has significantly outpaced the industry's methane emissions.

"Even if we assume that EPA's estimates are correct we still see that natural gas production has skyrocketed without a corresponding crisis in methane emissions," IPAA said.

Environmentalists said the long-awaited revisions to the methane data indicate a greater need for President Barack Obama's administration to regulate methane.

"Data gathered in the field show that the oil and gas methane problem is much larger than government or industry was telling us, and today EPA is rightly making a necessary set of corrections," said Environmental Defense Fund climate and energy vice president Mark Brownstein.

EPA's revised data also show natural gas systems are now the single largest source of US methane emissions, surpassing domestic livestock and landfills. The oil and gas sector emitted 10.8mn tons (9.8mn tonnes) of methane in 2014, according to the data. EPA says the oil and gas sector accounted for 33pc of US methane emissions.