Oil and Gas, Interior Could Do More to Account for and Manage Natural Gas Emissions

" Interior's BLM oversees and accounts for onshore oil and gas production on federal lands. Interior generally collects royalties for this oil and gas, but its guidance, which was issued over 30 years ago, may exempt gas that is vented, flared, or used to operate equipment on the lease. Increased oil production in recent years has resulted in a rise in flared gas in certain regions where there is limited infrastructure to transport or process gas associated with oil production. BLM has proposed updating its venting and flaring regulations to clarify how such emissions are to be managed. GAO was asked to review Interior's management of natural gas emissions onshore. This report examines (1) the extent to which Interior can account for these emissions and (2) how BLM field offices have managed requests to vent or flare. GAO analyzed Interior data, including a simple random sample of venting or flaring requests from fiscal year 2014, the most recent year for which data were available; reviewed Interior documents; and interviewed officials from a nongeneralizable sample of six BLM field offices selected based on increased natural gas emissions in recent years. GAO also interviewed operators with leases managed by two BLM field offices. "