Witness Blog
Factsheet: Global Methane Pledge 2025
Last week, the UN released its 2025 Global Methane Pledge report. At 147 pages, the report is dense. Oilfield Witness waded through it so you don’t have too. While framed in an optimistic light, the report’s findings are grim: Even if the fossil fuel industry implemented every feasible methane control...
Boats in the Desert? New Mexico’s Natural Gas Export Ambitions
Earlier this month the Japanese ambassador visited New Mexico. He was not in town to visit Carlsbad Caverns or to throw a pizza onto the roof of the Breaking Bad House. Unlike the usual tourists, he was in Santa Fe to discuss the newly announced Western States and Tribal...
Gluttons For Punishment: Oil Industry Doubles Down Against Reality
The world is facing a multi-year oil glut where the oil producers will be pumping more oil out of the ground than the world is using. This will keep oil prices at low levels – likely well below the level that most US shale oil producers can make a profit. But...
S&P’s new emissions analysis and the role of the media
Earlier this year, S&P Global insights released a new report analyzing methane emissions from the Permian Basin. The report claims that emissions have been dramatically reduced, with a 50% reduction in methane intensity between 2022 and 2024. The report has some major flaws and Oilfield Witness has released a fact...
Environmental Concerns and Pollution Monitoring Along the Tulsa Area Arkansas River
"The absence of data isn’t the same as absence of risk." Tulsa, Oklahoma has a strong connection with the oil and gas industry. The city established itself as an important hub for oil investments and production in the early 1900’s. Tulsa earned the title as “oil capital of the world”...
Automation – The new Oilfield Worker crisis
Over the last few years, the prospect of AI integration has taken the oil and gas industry by storm but while this may benefit oil and gas executives and shareholders, it likely is bad news for the average worker. Major oil and gas companies have announced plans to integrate AI...
Emissions Sleight of Hand: Methane Intensity Explained
On July 24th, S&P Global released a press release touting that “methane emissions intensity” has declined by 29% from 2023 to 2024. On July 3rd, the International Energy Agency released a report on natural gas certification claiming that the practice could be “paving the way towards price premiums for low-intensity...
Not Just a Bright Idea: The Mixed Motives of Light Pollution Reduction in Oil and Gas Operations
New Mexico oil producer Franklin Mountain Energy was recently recognized for reducing light pollution at three of their operating sites in the New Mexico Permian Basin. DarkSky International, a group that focuses on reducing light pollution, applauded their efforts. These three sites are the first oil and gas sites in...
The End of the U.S. LNG Bubble
In 2019 I wrote an article making some predictions for how the U.S. energy markets would play out and it was titled, “The Inevitable Death of Natural Gas as a ‘Bridge Fuel’ which included this prediction. “... if all of the planned infrastructure gets built to export U.S. natural gas in liquid form (known as liquefied...
Ongoing Emissions at Sinclair Navajo Refinery Raise Alarms
A recent visit to the Sinclair Navajo Refinery in Artesia, New Mexico, a facility with a history of pollution violations — despite being located a few hundred feet from an elementary school — revealed ongoing emissions. This visit was part of an informational field tour I organized for some of...