Cheniere Energy announced a collaboration with natural gas midstream companies, methane detection technology providers, and leading academic institutions to implement quantification, monitoring, reporting and verification  of greenhouse gas emissions at natural gas gathering, processing, transmission, and storage systems specific to Cheniere’s supply chain. The program is intended to improve the overall understanding of GHG emissions and further the deployment of advanced monitoring technologies and protocols. This collaboration builds upon Cheniere’s ongoing QMRV collaboration with natural gas producers and liquefied natural gas shipping providers, both of which commenced in 2021. These QMRV programs support Cheniere’s climate strategy initiatives, including the Company’s plan to provide Cargo Emissions Tags  to customers beginning this year.

The midstream QMRV work will be conducted by emissions researchers from Colorado State University and the University of Texas. The measurement protocol designed by the research group and Cheniere will be field tested at facilities operated by the participating companies, which include Kinder Morgan, Inc., Williams Companies, Inc., MPLX LP, DT Midstream, Inc., and Crestwood Equity Partners LP. Cheniere is also a participant in the program through the Creole Trail Pipeline and Gillis compressor station.

The midstream QMRV program involves a combination of ground-based, aerial, and drone-based emissions monitoring technologies. The midstream QMRV program requires emissions monitoring over at least a six-month period, with all data independently analyzed and verified by the project’s academic partners. At the Gillis compressor station, the R&D initiative will also test multiple continuous emissions monitors to assess the performance of these technologies.

“Together with our partners on this project and across our LNG value chain, we are working collaboratively to maximize the climate benefits and environmental competitiveness of U.S. natural gas and Cheniere’s LNG,” said Jack Fusco, Cheniere’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Including the Creole Trail Pipeline and Gillis compressor station in this phase of our QMRV work further evidences our commitment to science-based, data-driven environmental transparency.”

“Emissions quantification requires scientifically rigorous methods that are unique to each segment of the industry. This first-of-its-kind R&D project will investigate emissions performance at multiple midstream facilities not just by short-duration spot checks, but over several months, employing multiple monitoring technologies at multiple scales,” said Dan Zimmerle, the principal investigator on the project from Colorado State University who also serves as the Director of the school’s Methane Emissions Program.

“It is vital for both public policy and science that we have empirically driven measurement protocols, and importantly that the complex and voluminous data collected is independently analyzed and verified by the scientific community,” said Dr. Arvind Ravikumar, from the University of Texas Cockrell School of Engineering’s Sustainable Energy Development Lab.