ExxonMobil says it will use an "enhanced program" to reduce methane emissions from its production and midstream facilities across the United States. It offered no numbers on the extent of the proposed reductions.

In a statement, the company says the program prioritizes actions at sites operated by subsidiary XTO Energy and includes efforts to develop and deploy new, more efficient technologies to detect and reduce facility emissions.

“We are implementing an enhanced leak detection and repair program across our production and midstream sites to continually reduce methane emissions, and are also evaluating opportunities to upgrade facilities and improve efficiency at both current and future sites,” says XTO president Sara Ortwein. The initiative includes technology research and testing, as well as personnel training, equipment phase out and facility design improvements.

It also includes a commitment to phase out high-bleed pneumatic devices over three years.

XTO recently completed a pilot project in the Midland Basin that tested new low-emission designs that use compressed air instead of natural gas to operate pneumatic equipment that helps regulate conditions such as level, flow, pressure and temperature. The company says the results "successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using similar designs for new and existing central tank batteries and satellites" to reduce the potential for methane emissions.

XTO’s efforts also include research conducted with ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company and third-party equipment manufacturers to continue development of more efficient equipment to detect, quantify and reduce emissions at production sites.

Earlier this year, ExxonMobil, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others evaluated the use of aircraft-mounted leak detection surveys to guide equipment repair, and continue to assess the use of satellite, aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and mobile and ground-based technologies to refine the company’s methane monitoring.