explainer: what is responsibly sourced gas?

Chevron workers in the Permian Basin in West Texas and Southeast New Mexico. Some of the natural gas in the Permian was recently certified by a third-party assessor as being responsibly sourced gas.

Chevron is expected to begin marketing its first batch of responsibly sourced gas (RSG) later this year after a third-party analysis confirmed some of our Texas and Colorado production meets their highest environmental and community standards.

RSG is also referred to as independently verified gas, differentiated gas or certified gas. It is natural gas produced at facilities that have undergone an assessment by a third-party certifier. To receive this distinction, companies must demonstrate they are:

• Below a certain threshold for methane emissions intensity and using best practices for mitigating it.
• Minimizing community and environmental impacts.
• Responsibly managing water, waste and more.

Expectations for affordable, reliable and ever-cleaner energy are higher than ever. Having independent assessors evaluate Chevron’s practices helps verify our strengths, identify opportunities for further improvement and validate our performance among key stakeholders, customers and the public.

It is not yet clear. The market will dictate whether there is enough public demand to produce RSG on a large scale.

For Chevron employees such as Carol Baker, whose efforts helped us become certified, working to lessen emission intensity isn’t just a job requirement. It’s a personal mission.

“I don’t think people fully understand what we do and how deeply we care about this,” said Baker, environment manager in the Mid-Continent Business Unit. “We often hear from stakeholders that we should be operating as sustainably as we can. We are motivated by our genuine desire to lower methane emissions intensity, and it shows.”