School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences and Precourt Institute for Energy

WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT

State of the science on natural gas leakage: Remaining gaps and questions

9 & 10 November 2016Stanford University Campus, Stanford, California

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and a valuable and widely-used commodity. As such, it is important to realize the benefits that natural gas can provide, while ensuring that the impacts of natural gas leaking to the atmosphere are minimized. The field of natural gas venting and leakage has received a lot of attention over the past few years from the scientific community, regulators, industry, and other stakeholders and is an area that is impacted by active rule-making in the U.S. and globally.

The Stanford Natural Gas Initiative is convening this workshop in order to bring together key scientists, policy makers, environmental stakeholders, and industry participants to examine and discuss what is known about the scale and sources of methane leakage, what uncertainties exist, how uncertainties may be addressed, and what the path forward should be for regulators, industry, and other stakeholders. The meeting will be organized around four sessions. The first session, "Remaining questions in bottom-up estimates of leakage" will focus on knowledge and standards for measurement of components and identification of super-emitters. The second session, "Improving large-scale, top-down estimates" will focus on remote-sensing methods and simultaneous identification and concentration measurements. The third session, "Moving to global science" will address the international landscape, challenges to expanding efforts globally, and specific international cases and partnerships. The final session, "Interaction of regulation and science" will focus on how the state of the science can inform the regulatory process and how the best strategies for detecting and fixing methane leaks in order to meaningfully reduce the amount of emissions, while maintaining a robust industry can be build in to industry practice and government regulation.

For more information or to learn about the Stanford Natural Gas Initiative industrial affiliates program please contact NGI Managing Director Brad Ritts (ritts@stanford.edu).

ngi.stanford.edu

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

GEOPOLITICAL IMPACTS

GLOBAL MARKETS AND FINANCE

NATURAL GAS

Environmental BenefitsBridge to a decarbonized energy futureReduced GHG emissionsReduced air pollution

Power PlantsCoal to gas switchingDisplacing or firming renewables?

Environmental ChallengesGreenhouse gasesPotential water and air pollutionEarthquake triggering

POLICY AND REGULATORY REFORM

RegulationEnvironmental Safety and HealthLicensingEnforcement

Greenhouse Gas PolicyCO2Methane

Trade PolicyLiquid natural gasExports

Fuel SwitchingSubsidies and incentives

Research & Development Funding

DEVELOPMENT

Resource DevelopmentAssessmentProduction optimizationLong-term resource managementCO2 capture and storage

Infrastructure DevelopmentPipelinesRailFinancing

National PrioritiesNational securityCompetitivenessEnergy securityClimate negotiations

Gas and Energy MicroeconomicsPricesRegional balances

Investment flows and profits

Resilience

MacroeconomicsGrowthTrade balanceProductivity

ExportsGlobal gas markets & pricesInfrastructureTransport risk

Electrical Power

IndustrialFertilizerPetrochemicalsCatalysisManufacturing

Transport FuelLNG and CNG for trucksGas to liquids

Integration with Renewables

The Stanford Natural Gas Initiative examines the dynamic, multifaceted questions raised by the tremendous growth in natural gas production by focusing the efforts of Stanford’s faculty, researchers, and students in six key areas: Resource Development, Environmental Impacts and Climate Change, Uses of Natural Gas, Global

Markets and Finance, Policy and Regulatory Reform, and Geopolitical Impacts.

T HE N GI C ORPO RATE A FFI LI ATE PRO GR AMThe corporate affiliate program of the Natural Gas Initiative (NGI) engages leading companies and institutions in the work of the outstanding team of faculty and researchers from across Stanford University.

The NGI affiliate program offers a three-tier membership structure with annual fees ranging from $35,000 to $250,000 and a variety of benefits of membership, depending on membership level.

Other Upcoming NGI Events:14 September 2016 -- NGI Workshop: From methane to liquid fuels and beyond:

opportunities and challenges for a natural gas-powered future12 October 2016 -- NGI Affiliates Meeting: Important issues facing natural gas

industriesMarch 2017 -- NGI Annual Affiliates Meeting and Research Review

9 & 10 May 2017 -- NGI Symposium: New business models and technologies to reduce energy poverty with natural gas

Summer 2017 -- NGI Workshop: The role of natural gas in enabling renewable energy