ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Ryan Lance issued the following statement on a methane rule proposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“ConocoPhillips has actively supported the direct federal regulation of methane emissions from both new and existing sources and believes that the right regulation can help raise the performance floor for the entire energy industry. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including methane, is a major priority for us. Within our company, we’ve already voluntarily reduced our operational emissions intensity by nearly 65% since 2015 through such actions as portfolio upgrading, improving energy efficiency, replacing equipment, electrifying some facilities and equipment and detecting and repairing methane leaks. We now plan a further 10% reduction by 2025 from a 2019 baseline. We also have a separate near-term target to achieve zero routine flaring by 2030, with an ambition to meet that goal by 2025.

“We will review the EPA’s proposed regulation and look forward to continued engagement with the agency to help develop a final rule that encourages meaningful methane emissions reductions, while also providing producers with the flexibility they need to continue providing critical energy supplies to consumers and businesses.

“While we recognize that direct federal regulation represents a meaningful step forward in reducing emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases, we believe the most viable and effective approach for reducing end-use emissions would be a well-designed, economywide federal pricing regime on carbon. Given the current absence of a carbon pricing policy, we support enactment of cost-effective methane regulations that would preserve a state’s ability to adapt implementation to local conditions.

“In the meantime, ConocoPhillips will continue voluntarily reducing our methane emissions while actively advocating for a price on carbon.”

About ConocoPhillips

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, ConocoPhillips had operations and activities in 14 countries, $87 billion of total assets, and approximately 9,900 employees as of Sept. 30, 2021. Production excluding Libya averaged 1,514 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day for the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2021, and proved reserves were 4.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent as of Dec. 31, 2020.