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  • Automating Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reporting for a Global Energy Company

The client

The client is a US-based onshore oil and gas business, known for their environmentally conscious production. They currently operate in the Permian, Eagle Ford and Haynesville basins with a focus on safely producing high-value oil and gas while reducing emissions.

The client, through its parent company, has a charter to reach net zero by 2050 which requires net zero across operations and net zero across production and sales. This aim relates to scope 1 (from running the assets within operational control boundary) and scope 2 (associated with producing the electricity, heating and cooling that is bought in to run operations) GHG emissions. They required a solution to automate their greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting for compliance, efficiency and cost savings.

Need for change

As the global focus on climate change intensifies, emissions reporting for upstream oil and gas companies in the US has become increasingly important. For most upstream and midstream companies, these emissions stem from activities such as drilling, extraction, flaring, and venting of natural gas, as well as the use of energy-intensive equipment and processes in operations. This is driven by a two-fold need. One is the reporting of emissions to align to the net zero goals put in place, and a year-on-year comparison of emission targets. Second is the regulatory reporting required for all major oil and gas players. 

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and various state agencies have taken steps to regulate emissions from the oil and gas sector, urging transparency in emissions data. The EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP)–Subpart W, for example, mandates large emitters in the oil and gas industry to report their annual emissions, which includes GHGs like methane, non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide (NOx). Additionally, emissions reporting is directly linked to methane emissions reporting mandates by EPA. This need for reporting is driving organizations to harness automated GHG reporting for greater transparency, alignment with regulations and eco-conscious goals such as net zero, and significant cost savings.

Need for change

Business challenges

The client’s HSE and Carbon team needed an application to automate and enhance their ESG reporting. This necessitated the compilation of GHG emission calculations and other criteria pollutants (NMHC/NOx, etc.), integration of data from several existing systems, and efficient consolidated reporting capabilities for ESG analytics and the EPA’s Green House Gas Reporting Subpart W requirements. Some of the challenges in their current GHG reporting included:

  • Lack of automation of GHG emission calculations led to difficult with compliance reporting as well as poor ESG analytics.
  • Cumbersome and time-consuming manual process of collecting and managing data collected from multiple platforms, in different formats and from different geographies. 
  • Significant manual effort for collection of data from multiple fragmented sources including partners and vendors.  
  • Most of the data was collected and maintained manually across different applications and spreadsheets.
  • Manual emission calculations and data analytics for all internal and external reporting obligations (annual to EPA, quarterly for parent organization monthly for regulatory needs) was time-consuming and inefficient. Lack of a clear process for upgrades meant that the client struggled with ad-hoc upgrades to their platforms and applications without a proper product roadmap and business end goal in place. 
  • They lacked the ability to aggregate all data in a secure, centralized repository accessible to the client for added reporting purposes.

LTIMindtree’s solution

LTIMindtree partnered with the client to provide an automated GHG reporting solution. This unique solution entailed:

Data lake creation

  • Streamlined and automated field data collection from through a single platform and inventoried the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across 30+ data sources from the company’s operations. 
  • Integrated data from vendors for categorized and computed scope 1 and 2 emissions with OT-IT (operational technology-IT technology) integration to collect data from diverse sources. This range of data sources included internal systems used by the client for production data, financial reporting systems, well-scheduling tools, operational events trackers, venting and flaring logs, IIOT devices in upstream and midstream, work management system and multiple vendor systems. 
  • Created consistent data flow models for swift turnaround of automation of new data sources. 
  • Created a robust and secure master data lake for all ESG data in Snowflake. 
  • Ensured data security while receiving external data from vendors through virus scan integrations and IP address whitelisting.
  • Ensured data quality through data validation rules in individual workflows.
  • Ensured timely receipt of data from vendors through automated email triggers for reminders.

Emissions calculations

  • Set up data validation mechanisms with stored procedures and lambda functions.
  • Established robust calculation engines with source-specific emission factors as required by the client.

Analytical dashboard

  • Provided multiple views of data across levels–leadership dashboard, summary dashboards, and tab-specific emission sources dashboards to provide detailed and actionable insights for leadership and the environmental team for more informed decision-making.
  • Automated the process of preparing monthly, quarterly, annual, and custom reports.
  • Enabled data lineage diagrams explaining data flows from source to report to support audit requirements.

Overview of solution architecture

Figure: Overview of solution architecture

Tech Stack

  • Backend technologies: Snowflake database, SQL, API integration, S3/SFTP, python, AWS stone-branch jobs, PowerAutomate, and stored procedures
  • Front-end technologies: PBI and Web Interface (JSCAPE url)
  • Cloud resources: AWS (Lambda, S3/SFTP, terraform, SQS, SNS, and IAM Roles)
  • DevOps CI/CD pipelines, Azure DevOps

Benefits

 

Streamlined operations for greater efficiency and accuracy using robust data architecture with approved flows that can be easily integrated for new data sources.

GHG reporting automation reduced manual efforts from the HSE and carbon team and the field operations team to receive, process, analyze and share data. This led to 350 hours in process improvement annually.

Reduction in man hours saved $100,000 annually.

By integrating data from internal systems and external vendors, the solution ensured seamless data flow, centralized and secure storage of ESG data, and efficient reporting capabilities

Reduced manual data dependency and transformation.

100% validation and removal of duplicate data resulted in assurance-ready data and on-demand automated reports. The client business is expected to save nearly 145 hours for compliance reporting.

Conclusion

LTIMindtree’s robust automated GHG reporting solution streamlined and automated the client’s entire process for reporting on and managing greenhouse gas emissions and other criteria pollutants. This digital transformation accelerated the client’s net zero journey with massive cost-savings and greater efficiency. Moreover, real-time analytical dashboards granted the client greater agility for informed decision-making for better outcomes and the ability to pivot as required on their net zero journey. This solution not only ensured timely and accurate regulatory compliance but also empowered the client to optimize staff resources for more strategic tasks. Ultimately, it laid a strong foundation for continuous enhancement of the client’s ESG analytics and reporting framework, enabling scalable and sustainable growth in their environmental performance management. Thus, it is imperative for modern oil and gas companies to harness innovative technology as net zero and better emissions control and reporting are required across the industry.

Testimonial

 

Reliable, up-to-date emissions reporting has been one of our biggest challenges. We are working on building a robust data lake which meets regulatory requirements, while providing valuable insights into the environmental performance of the company. This has been a very fruitful partnership, and we appreciate the efforts of the team in working alongside us and for being ever-present to solve problems.

– Head of Environmental Reporting

Looking to automate your enterprise’s GHG reporting for a sustainable future?

Contact eugene.comms@ltimindtree.com to know more.

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