Case study: the road to the OGMP Gold Standard with FGSZ

OGMP member FGSZ owns and operates the Hungarian high-pressure natural gas pipeline system. In this case study, they share how they are working towards the Gold Standard.

Introducing MRV and LDAR

As a member of the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) 2.0, Hungarian TSO operator FGSZ Földgázszállító Zrt. started analyzing their current situation regarding methane emissions and defining actions for improvement.

"Our company started investigating the opportunity of introducing MRV and LDAR regarding our methane emissions roughly a year ago. As this issue is highly relevant to our operation, we even founded an in-house project to investigate our possibilities. As part of the project, we analyzed the relevant activities of our European TSO partners. It was during this process, that we got acquainted with Intero - The Sniffers." says Róbert Simigla of FGSZ.

OGMP Level 4 project setup

OGMP members such as FGSZ work towards the Gold Standard by creating an explicit and credible multi-year roadmap to report level 4/5 within 3 years (for operated assets).

Reaching level 4 means performing direct measurements on source level including sampling for emission quantification on all in-scope assets. To guarantee accurate emission data, specific Emission Factors have to be used.

FGSZ started by having such a direct measurement campaign done by Intero - The Sniffers.

"Last autumn we had a meeting with Adrian Staicu, Regional Manager of the CEE region of Intero - The Sniffers, who provided information to us on the specific activities."

"This negotiation has proven to be highly beneficial and valuable for us. Following this meeting, FGSZ requested a price offer concerning an OGMP 2.0 Level 4 measurement campaign. In May 2022, Intero - The Sniffers successfully carried out this task at one of our sites" states Róbert of FGSZ.

According to Bas Hermans, Emission Division Operations Director of Intero - The Sniffers, "FGSZ has taken an important step in reaching the Gold Standard by having these direct measurements and sampling performed our team at one of their sites."

"We used our FID / PID measurement device to detect fugitive methane emissions and our in-house developed High Flow Sampler to quantify the losses in KG/year."

"To reach the Gold Standard, we are currently looking at how we can help FGSZ with an OGMP level 5 survey. This entails that, together with our partners, we perform top-down measurements to then reconcile with the source-based measurements to have a complete overview of the emission performance" he adds.

Expertise makes the difference

While executing the measurements onsite, it became apparent to the team of FGSZ that the Intero - The Sniffers operators are experts in performing emission measurements.

"During the onsite activities, we had the opportunity to thoroughly discuss the topic of methane emissions as well as relevant measurement methods and devices with the team of Intero - The Sniffers" adds Róbert.

"Philip, Dragos, and Cristian were fully open to share their experiences on this topic with us, resulting in a productive and fruitful professional conversation between our companies. We were fully convinced that their knowledge on the topic of emission measurements is paramount, even exceeding our earlier expectations."

Precise emission reporting

One of the main goals of the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership is to gain a better understanding of companies' methane emissions performance and to reduce them year after year.

Being able to deliver an accurate and complete emission report to different stakeholders provides them with valuable insights.

FGSZ is fully satisfied with the content of the emission report. "The material that we received was precise and articulate. Moreover, the reporting team was able to grant us valuable additional information in terms of calculation methodologies as well."

Precise, informative, and thorough

"The work provided by Intero - The Sniffers was precise, informative, and thorough, hence mightily helpful throughout the process. Therefore, we would be happy to recommend the services of Intero - The Sniffers to any company within the gas sector or outside of it that is seriously interested in detecting its methane emissions", concludes Róbert Simigla of FGSZ.

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