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Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program (GHGRP)

GHGRP 2018: Suppliers of Natural Gas and Natural Gas Liquids

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gas iconThis sector consists of entities that supply natural gas and natural gas liquids. Natural gas supply is reported by Local Distribution Companies (LDCs) and natural gas liquids (NGL) supply is reported by fractionators.

NGL Fractionators are installations that receive natural gas or bulk natural gas liquids from producers, fractionate these raw inputs into individual products (ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane, or pentanes plus), and then supply those products into the economy.

Local Distribution Companies receive natural gas from a transmission pipeline company and physically deliver the gas to end users.

These Suppliers report the quantity of CO2 that would be emitted if the fuels they supply each year were combusted. Emissions associated with these fuels do not occur at the supplier's facility but instead occur throughout the country, wherever they are used. The full GHG quantity reported by suppliers might not always result in GHG emissions, and the emissions might not take place during the year in which they are reported. An example is ethane supplied by NGL fractionators, which is often used to produce plastics.

The GHG quantities reported by suppliers can be accessed through the suppliers section of FLIGHT. Some natural gas and natural gas liquids suppliers also report direct emissions from petroleum and natural gas operations. Click here to learn more.

On this page:

Graphic of the natural gas and NGL supply chain

GHGRP 2015 Supplier of Natural Gas and NGL Supply Chain graphic

Quantities marked with green arrows are reported to EPA by NGL Fractionators or Local Distribution Companies under Subpart NN.

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What factors influenced the trends in emissions for suppliers of natural gas and natural gas liquids?

Emissions and Deliveries

Natural Gas and Natural Gas Liquids Suppliers Sector – Carbon Dioxide Quantity Reported to the GHGRP
(million metric tons CO2)
  2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Local Distribution Companies
Number of reporters: 381 386 385 383 383 381 379 375
CO2 Quantity 715.9 709.5 771.9 792.1 766.2 752.3 742.6 814.8
Natural Gas Liquids Fractionators
Number of reporters: 116 119 126 129 125 124 125 124
CO2 Quantity a 211.5 234.3 222.8 262.2 292.1 309.1 321.5 362.8

a Excludes CO2 reported by NGL Fractionators whose reported quantities are classified as confidential business information (CBI).

Natural Gas Deliveries Reported by LDCs (Mscf)
End-User 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Total Reported Deliveries 12,833,353,747 12,814,244,074 13,959,558,590 14,402,368,456 13,898,676,228 13,574,416,274 13,434,891,569 14,801,552,520
Residential Customers 4,639,182,835 4,085,716,741 4,848,463,986 5,005,539,667 4,545,932,813 4,289,324,817 4,350,008,201 4,923,458,578
Commercial Customers 3,040,460,385 2,807,075,083 3,195,684,202 3,372,005,196 3,109,808,981 3,021,582,505 3,073,980,646 3,386,391,880
Industrial Customers 3,294,130,257 3,518,276,435 3,673,846,067 3,788,452,965 3,689,029,269 3,764,025,456 3,843,190,027 3,968,708,735
Electricity Generating Facilities 1,859,580,270 2,403,175,815 2,241,564,335 2,236,370,627 2,553,905,164 2,499,483,496 2,167,712,695 2,522,993,327

Mscf means thousand standard cubic feet of gas.

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