Independent producers welcome EPA methane rollback

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Oct. 27 proposed loosening Biden-era methane rules for oil and natural gas operations, which President Donald Trump said at a campaign rally in Lubbock, Texas, amounted to “terminating” the regulations. The announcement came a week before the Nov. 3 midterm elections and amid high fuel prices tied to the war with Iran.

“When owners and operators can produce, America benefits with lower prices,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in the agency’s news release. The release says the changes would lower energy costs but it gives no estimate of any effect on gasoline or diesel prices.

The EPA projects the proposal would save $45 billion in costs to consumers and businesses and “unleash an estimated 210 million additional barrels of oil and 1.41 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.” The release does not say over what period those savings and volumes would accrue. It also cites an $18 billion cost estimate for the 2024 rules imposed by the Biden administration.

The proposal makes five changes to the existing rules. It would rescind the third-party “super emitter” program, in which certified monitors use satellites and aircraft to flag large leaks. It would split the “no identifiable emissions” requirement into design and operational parts so operators can make repairs. It would co-propose two ways of easing requirements for marginal, or low-producing wells, which the EPA said make up about four in five producing wells. The proposal also would restore the option of flaring excess natural gas produced with oil, or using other control devices rated at 95% efficiency, meaning they destroy 95% of the pollutants in the gas, instead of requiring all of it to be piped to a sales line, which the release says is not possible in every producing area. Finally, it would give operators more flexibility on flame monitoring, control-device alerts, and visible-emissions testing.

The wells at issue matter for methane emissions. The EPA notes that while marginal wells “account for a low percentage of total oil and gas production, research indicates that low production well sites account for about 50% of oil and gas methane emissions.”

Independent producers praised the move. The 2024 rules “could have threatened the continued operation of hundreds of thousands of marginal wells nationwide,” Independent Petroleum Association of America President and CEO Edith Naegele said, according to World Oil. The group said marginal wells are more than 75% of U.S. producing wells and support local jobs and tax revenue.

Large producers have been more divided. Chevron and ExxonMobil have long supported federal methane regulation, though at times they have pushed to narrow monitoring and reporting requirements, The Washington Post reported. Smaller producers, meanwhile, have fought the rules as too costly.

Whether the change would lower pump prices is a separate question. Crude oil makes up about 51% of the retail price of gasoline, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported, and the price of crude is set in a global market.

The agency’s Oct. 6 outlook projected Brent crude averaging $96 a barrel in 2026 and attributed high prices mainly to Middle East supply disruptions, including problems in the Strait of Hormuz. With the Trump administration signaling a resumption in fighting after the midterm elections, it’s possible prices could climb above the current $4.27 a gallon national average.

The proposal is not yet final. The EPA said the public comment period will last at least 45 days after the Federal Register publication and that it will hold a public hearing.