El Paso Natural Gas Company
Natural Gas STAR Case
Study Series
EL PASO
NATURALCAS
or El Paso Natural Gas
Company, reducing
^^^_ methane emissions is a necessary part of doing business in
I the natural gas industry. Simply put, lost methane is lost
revenue. The company, a Texas-based subsidiary of El Paso Energy,
has saved $3.3 million by implementing emission reduction activi-
ties. Joining EPA's Natural Gas STAR program in 1995 was a log-
ical extension of El Pasos ongoing emission reduction activities. Gas
STAR participation augmented El Paso's program by providing
public recognition, networking, and learning opportunities. As the
following case study of El Paso shows, joining Gas STAR is an easy
way to formalize, expand, and publicize existing emission reduc-
tion programs and identify new opportunities to reduce emissions.
mm
El Paso Natural Gas Company oper-
ates the western portion of El Paso
Energy's coast-to-coast regulated gas
transmission system, which consists of
10,300 miles of pipeline, powered by
more than 70 compressor stations. El
Paso offers long- and short-haul inter-
state gas transportation services from
producing regions in New Mexico,
Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado to
markets in California, Nevada,
Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and
northern Mexico. El Paso supplies
more than 35 percent of the
California interstate market, trans-
porting more than 1.8 billion cubic
feet (bcf) per day. The company
transports 600 million cubic feet
(mcf) per day east of California and 1
bcf per day to off-system markets.
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r
Early Activity: The MERT Program
PA's Natural Gas STAR program was a natural
fit for El Paso. The company had organized a
methane emission reduction program before
becoming aware of Natural Gas STAR.
Beginning in 1994, the company experienced an
increase in unaccounted-for gas levels and formed an
internal Methane Emission Reduction Team (MERT)
to explain and address the issue. MERT included per-
sonnel from several departments that were affected by
or monitored unaccounted-for gas, including El Paso's
Gas Measurement, Engineering, Compression, and
Accounting personnel. The group conducted a
"brown paper" exercise to review their company's
processes and determine possible solutions. After
studying the issue in detail, the group developed four
categories of emission reduction "best practices" to
implement across the organization:
• Revise operating procedures that have an
impact on methane emissions. This multistep
process involves defining operating procedures
that affect methane emissions, performing eco-
nomic analyses of procedures, prioritizing pro-
cedure changes, training staff, implementing
and monitoring new procedures, and docu-
menting lessons learned.
• Identify and replace
high-bleed pneumatic
devices. This
includes identify-
ing high-bleed
vent devices and
evaluating alter-
native replace-
ment devices. It
also includes per-
forming economic
analyses for the life-
time of the replace-
ment device.
• Replace reciprocating engines with turbines
and install new turbines.
This involves deter-
mining the con-
ditions for
compressor
replacement
or new
installa-
tion,
investigat-
ing the
costs of
service,
conducting
an operational
review, deter-
mining emissions,
selecting engine types,
recording methane reduction, and document-
ing lessons learned.
• Survey for leaks. This involves identifying loca-
tions to survey; preparing a survey schedule;
identifying, tagging, and recording leak sources;
addressing and checking "quick fix" leaks; and
documenting lessons learned.
MERT also conducted an inventory of turbine
replacements and new installations, low-bleed
controller installations, and other emission-
reducing operational practices at El Paso facili-
ties from 1991 to 1994 to determine historical
emission reductions.
MERT's Introduction to Gas STAR
While MERT was developing and implement-
ing these practices, an engineer from EL Paso
Natural Gas was attending Gas STAR work-
shops. El Paso learned how EPA was assisting
and recognizing natural gas transmission and
distribution companies that voluntarily
reduced methane emissions and quickly realized
that MERT should become involved.
After reviewing the details of the Gas STAR
program in 1995, the environmental engineer
El Paso Natural Gas Company
Natural Gas STAR Case Study Series
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met with MERT and explained how the Gas
STAR program dovetailed with MERT's current
activities to reduce methane emissions. MERT
requested that the engineer join the group and
then began evaluating El Paso's program to deter-
mine if it matched up to the Natural Gas STAR
program. The group found that most of MERT's
best practices directly correlated with Gas STAR's
recommended practices.
Initially, MERT was concerned that El Paso's lim-
ited staff would not have the time to fulfill Gas
STAR's reporting commitment. Upon further
examination, however, the group determined that
Gas STAR requirements were minimal and that
plan prior to joining the program. The company's
involvement in the program generated a new
impetus to systematically quantify, report, and
compile emission reductions resulting from imple-
mentation of MERT's recommendations.
Once El Paso facilities began implementing
MERT activities, the program required only one
person to gather and compile emission reduction
information. With trained technicians in place, El
Paso's Gas STAR participation focused on show-
ing individuals how to quantify
and report emission reduc-
tions and making this a
company priority.
"El Paso's Gas STAR program is successful because it
makes sense. The value of the work we do drives our
commitment to the program."
John Hazen
El Paso's Gas STAR Implementation Manager
the benefits of participation outweighed the extra
time involved in reporting Gas STAR results. In
late 1995, MERT began coordinating with Gas
STAR and filed its first Gas STAR annual report
in 1997.
!BL Jl
Management support
emission reduction pro-
grams has always been strong.
Early on, MERT demonstrated the clear cost savings
of reducing emissions. According to John Hazen, El
Paso's Gas STAR implementation manager, "The
message at El Paso is—the value of stopping unac-
counted emissions is in the best interest of all.':
ERT's early work created a smooth transi-
tion into the Gas STAR program. In the
years prior to El Paso joining the Gas
STAR program, MERT had identified
cost-effective best practices in emission reductions
and trained operational personnel on how to
implement recommended changes. Members of
MERT hosted meetings at individual facilities to
disseminate the results of MERT's research. As a
result, El Paso had developed an implementation
Implementing
the Program
Program Logistics
ERT laid the groundwork for Natural Gas
STAR participation. Early work at one of
El Paso's facilities proved that best man-
agement practices saved money and that it
was unnecessary to continually justify such activi-
ties. Rather than spend time and money surveying
El Paso Natural Gas Company
Natural Gas STAR Case Study Series
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and assessing which repairs should be a priority,
El Paso began to repair leaks as soon as they
were identified. Thus, El Paso technicians were
able to implement MERT's best practices with-
out lengthy approval from various levels of
management.
With this system of best practice implementa-
tion in place, all that was required for Gas
STAR participation was to designate an individ-
ual as implementation manager responsible for
compiling results of emission reduction activi-
ties throughout the company. For El Paso, that
individual is John Hazen. As part of his job
responsibilities, Mr. Hazen visits each El Paso
facility at least once per year and meets with
facility staff to discuss a number of ongoing
projects. While in the field, Mr. Hazen spends a
significant portion of his time with field techni-
cians. He works with them to identify which of
the past year's capital projects have resulted in
reportable emission reductions. Mr. Hazen then
compiles companywide emission reductions for
submission to the program. By working on mul-
tiple projects such as gas measurement and
emission reductions during each facility visit,
Mr. Hazen maximizes what can be accomplished
given his limited travel time and budget for
each visit.
El Paso's Strategic Environmental
Management
El Paso's Gas STAR program is facilitated by the
company's strategic environmental management
approach. In strategic environmental manage-
ment, business thinking plays a key role and is
fully integrated into business strategy and opera-
tions. Strategic environmental management at
El Paso involves:
• Achieving line ownership of environmental
issues.
• Developing performance indicators to track
environmental improvements.
• Developing organizational communication.
• Enhancing employee awareness of environmen-
tal issues.
• Identifying opportunities for competitive
advantage.
For example, El Paso developed environmental
training modules and a "lessons learned" data-
base to educate personnel and enhance commu-
nication of successful and unsuccessful activities.
The "lessons learned" database provides a mecha-
nism to share information on the costs and bene-
fits of certain environmental initiatives. The
environmental modules provide information spe-
cific to El Paso Natural Gas. One such module
addresses the need to identify and eliminate
methane emissions. The company also developed
a comprehensive environmental policy that
places responsibility on each supervisor for the
environmental performance of his or her loca-
tion, department, or function.
ILWKOt
*
The major factors that contributed to fhe
success of El Paso's program. included:
• Management support. Gaining sen-
ior management support was an
important step for the organization.
It heightened the attention given to
emission reduction activities.
Employee involvement. Through
training, field employees understand
the impact they have on company-
wide methane emission reductions.
El Paso Natural Gas Company
Natural Gas STAR Case Study Series
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Two additional initiatives that were instrumental in
the success of the emission reduction program were
the cross-functional work program and the empha-
sis on enhancing effective communication across
the company. The cross-functional work program
eliminated technician specialties such as measure-
ment, corrosion, pipelines, plant operation, and
controls. All technicians now share the same title—
operations specialist—and are
assigned particular sections of
pipe or areas of the plant.
This process has
improved operational
efficiency, as repairs to
a section of the plant
previously involving
up to three technicians
now involve only one.
By eliminating confu-
sion about who is
responsible for preventing
methane emissions in each
plant area or pipe section, the com-
pany improved accountability for lost methane and
increased information sharing about opportunities
to reduce emissions. According to Mr. Hazen, El
Paso "values everybody's contribution."
Communication also is facilitated by the compa-
ny's streamlined, nonhierarchical corporate struc-
ture—there are only two staff levels between oper-
ational specialists and vice presidents. According
to John Hazen, this flat corporate structure
reduces confusion about who should be reporting
emission reduction information to whom.
Emission reduction data is e-mailed directly to
Hazen or relayed to him through standard annual
facility reports to corporate headquarters. To
gather data on emission reductions that resulted
from a national valve maintenance program, Mr.
Hazen simply asked to be on the maintenance
program's report distribution list.
1 Paso did not encounter any major obstacles
in implementing its emission reduction activi-
-^^m ties, although John Hazen acknowledged that
%• operating personnel must be made aware of the
impact that unaccounted-for gas can have on the
business. As Mr. Hazen notes, "When gas is vented,
it is often difficult to determine the volume or dollar
impact. Operating personnel need to keep this in
mind at all times. The challenge is getting people to
think 'outside the box' about the impact that their
activities can have on emissions and to be proactive
in preventing methane emissions in the first place."
Onsite meetings by MERT staff and clear manage-
ment support helped convey the importance of min-
imizing unaccounted-for gas at El Paso.
vommonsen
>mmitment
iuctions
mission reduction activities are part of the
company's evolution toward greater efficiency.
^^m As El Paso looks to the future, the company
^M sees the possibility of expanding emission
reduction activities and identifying additional gas
saving opportunities by net-
working with other
companies. A
According to Mr. ^_
Hazen, "El Paso's
Gas STAR program
is successful because
it makes sense. The
value of the work
we do drives our
commitment to the
program."
El Paso Natural Gas Company
Natural Gas STAR Case Study Series
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MM CJK ram
El Paso's Emission Reductions (Mcf)
2,000,000 T
1,500,0004
1,000,0004
500,0004
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Annual 122,700 96,079 336,624 589,167 520,698
Cumulative 122,700 218,779 555,403 1,144,570 1,665,268
El Paso reports average methane emis-
sion reductions of more than 300,000
Mcf each year.
El Paso's methane emission reduction
program has expanded dramatically
since its introduction. El Paso's methane
emission reductions increased four-fold
between 1994 and 1998.
'aso's Emission Reductions Savings
$3,500,000
$3,000,000
$2,500,000
$2,000,000
$1,500,000
$1,000,000
$500,000
$3,330,536
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
El Paso saves an average of $600,000
each year through methane emission
reduction activities.
WMUWHO
mm atom
MIM CM MM
Environmental benefits. In addition
to cost savings, El Paso's Gas STAR
involvement made El Paso aware of
the impact of methane on climate
change. El Paso personnel generally
did not realize that methane is a
potent greenhouse gas, 21 times
more effective than carbon dioxide.
El Paso's John Hazen used this infor-
mation to educate field staff and help
them understand the consequences of
venting gas. This information in turn
caused field staff to be more diligent
about minimizing methane venting
and be proactive in reporting emis-
sion reductions.
Unit valve and compressor rod
packing procedure. A presentation
at a Gas STAR workshop made Mr.
Hazen recognize the value of emis-
sion reduction opportunities in com-
pressor facilities and eventually led to
the creation of a new position at El
Paso to oversee company valve main-
tenance. The staff person in charge of
the company's valve maintenance
program arranges for contractors to
clean, flush, and grease station unit
and pipeline valves identified at El
Paso's facilities across the pipeline
system. This type of valve mainte-
nance gives the system the attention
it deserves—routine greasing and fine
tuning to fit manufacturer specifications
helps prevent methane emissions.
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