Appalachian Methane Initiative (AMI)
A coalition addressing the methane challenge by deploying comprehensive multi-scale methane monitoring systems in one of the largest oil and gas fields in the United States.
About AMI
The Appalachian Methane Initiative (AMI) is a collaborative effort among major U.S. natural gas operators to monitor and mitigate methane emissions in the Appalachian Basin, one of the largest oil and gas fields in the United States. The AMI coalition partnered with the Energy Emissions Modeling and Data Lab (EEMDL) at the University of Texas at Austin to lead the scientific efforts on collecting and interpreting large-area, multi-scale methane emissions monitoring campaign. The project was managed by SLR International Corporation (SLR).
The scientific objectives of the Appalachian Methane Initiative include:
Developing facility-level, measurement-informed emissions inventory estimates that integrate measurement data with operational information to improve the accuracy of emission inventories.
Reconciling emissions estimates derived from top-down and bottom-up measurement approaches.
Reconciling measurement-informed emissions inventory with operator reported emissions inventory estimates (e.g., EPA greenhouse gas reporting program).
Understanding contributions from and temporal variability in major methane emissions sources in the region including coal mines and landfills.
Appalachian Methane Initiative 2024 Campaign
Multi-scale Methane Measurements in the Appalachian Basin
AMI Footprint
In 2023, AMI initiated a pilot field measurement study in the Appalachian region, encompassing three states: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. The 2023 AMI pilot measurement campaign was structured into two distinct regions as shown in the Figure below—a southwest pilot region and a northeast pilot region. The study involved facility-level methane emission measurements obtained via aerial surveys conducted by Bridger Photonics (Bridger) during three surveys between March and December 2023. The southwest pilot region comprised 425 oil and gas facilities (including both AMI-affiliated and non-AMI sites), 14 coal mining operations, and one landfill. The northeast pilot region included 168 oil and gas facilities (AMI and non-AMI), four concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and two landfills.
The 2024 AMI measurement campaign, built on lessons from the pilot campaign, significantly expanded the campaign geographical scope and complexity. The number of participating operators doubled, and the study area expanded nearly tenfold, encompassing approximately 54,000 km² (20,850 square miles). The campaign was structured into four distinct measurement rounds (Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4), with aerial surveys conducted by Bridger between April 5, 2024, and approximately March 15, 2025. This campaign included surveys of over 6,400 individual sites, representing a diverse range of facility types, including AMI-affiliated, non-AMI, and non-oil and gas (non-O&G) sites. Specifically, the survey encompassed 88 coal mines, 10 CAFOs, and 83 landfills. Approximately 3,000 AMI sites were surveyed, with conventional single wells constituting approximately 25% of these locations. The majority of the surveyed sites were unconventional production pads, while the remaining sites comprised other upstream oil and gas infrastructure, including drilling sites, standalone tank batteries, isolated dehydration units, metering and regulation (M&R) stations, and midstream facilities. The latter category included gathering and boosting (G&B) stations, gas transmission and storage infrastructure, and processing plants.
Questions?
For questions, please contact Arvind Ravikumar at arvind.ravikumar@austin.utexas.edu.
For inquiries on collaborative projects with EEMDL, please contact eemdl@utexas.edu.