Fact Sheet

vvEPA

United States
Environmental Protection

Final Rule - Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule: 2014 Revisions and Confidentiality Aaency
Determinations for Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems

Action

•	The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing revisions to the Petroleum and
Natural Gas Systems source category (Subpart W) and the General Provisions (Subpart A) of the
Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP). The final rule includes revisions to certain calculation
methods, monitoring and data reporting requirements, terms and definitions, and technical and
editorial errors that were identified during the course of implementation.

•	The EPA is also finalizing confidentiality determinations for new or substantially revised data
elements finalized in this rule, as well as finalizing a revised confidentiality determination for one
existing data element.

•	The changes will enhance the clarity and consistency of the reported data. They are not expected to
significantly change the total amount of reporters or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions covered by the
GHGRP.

•	This rule will be effective January 1, 2015. Thus, beginning on January 1, 2015, facilities must
follow the revised methods, as amended, to calculate emissions. This action does not affect annual
GHG reports that will be submitted for the 2014 calendar year.

Background

•	The GHGRP, mandated by Congress in the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act, requires
reporting of GHG data from large emission sources and suppliers across a range of industry sectors.

• The GHGRP collects greenhouse gas data from facilities that conduct Petroleum and Natural Gas
Systems activities, including production, processing, transmission, and distribution. For the 2013
calendar year, the EPA received annual reports from over 2,100 facilities with Petroleum and Natural
Gas Systems activities. The total reported GHG emissions for 2013 was 224 million metric tons of
carbon dioxide equivalent.

• The EPA has been working to improve the quality of data from this sector and expects that the

GHGRP will be an important tool for the Agency and the public to analyze emissions and understand
emissions trends. During the course of implementation, the EPA identified potential changes to the
rule that, if made, would enhance its clarity and consistency, improve data quality, and respond to
questions raised by reporters.

Revisions

Finalized revisions include:

• Revising units of measure, terms, and definitions in certain equations to provide consistency
throughout the rule, provide clarity, and better reflect facility operations.

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•	Clarifying or simplifying calculation methods for certain sources at a facility, such as for liquids
unloading, completions and workovers, onshore production storage tanks, blowdown vents,
associated gas venting and flaring, and natural gas distribution sources.

•	Expanding the use of site-specific gas composition data at facilities.

•	Revising calculation methods for centrifugal and reciprocating compressors that have presented safety
and operational process concerns for reporters and providing the use of optical gas imaging as a
screening tool to detect emissions from compressors.

•	Clarifying and providing greater specificity regarding procedures for estimating missing data.

•	Removing existing provisions related to Best Available Monitoring Methods (BAMM) as the
revisions finalized in this rule address the safety and technical concerns that may have prevented full
compliance with the rule.

•	Providing transitional BAMM in 2015 for reporters who are subject to new monitoring or
measurement requirements as part of these final revisions.

•	Revising reporting requirements to clarify and align more closely with the calculation methods and to
clearly identify the data that must be reported for each source type.

Confidentiality Determinations

•	The EPA is finalizing confidentiality determinations for new and substantially revised data reporting
elements and a revised confidentiality determination for one existing data reporting element in the
finalized amendments.

More Information

•	For more information on the GHGRP and a prepublication version of this action, please visit our Web
site: http://www.epa.gov/ghgreporting/reporters/rules/index.html.

•	For more information on Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems in the GHGRP, see:
http: //www. epa. gov/ghgreporting/reporters/subpart/w .html.

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