ESG regulations are becoming stricter each year to meet the global demand for environmental accountability. In the United States in particular, the last 18 months have seen rapid change in the regulatory landscape, with a flurry of new initiatives and proposals on environmental and social matters led by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC), the Federal Trade Commission and the Treasury, as well as new state-level regulations.
Among the regulations stated, organizations now must control their use of flaring and venting to address the carbon footprint produced and avoid it where possible. Flaring and venting are controlled processes to dispose of gas, essential for emergency and safety purposes on oil and gas installations, and in situations where it may not be feasible for the gas to be used, exported or re-injected. Flaring is the ignition of gas, and venting is the release of unignited gas.
As stated by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), while flaring and venting are highly damaging to climate and health, it “is mostly avoidable through sound planning and management”.
Considering the ESG regulations and risks associated with public health and climate impacts, investors are now on the outlook for companies that demonstrate the ability to display better performance and transparency in flaring and venting regulations as a best practice from a risk management and governance perspective. This is even more the reason for companies to opt for solutions that could help maintain such transparency and control over flaring and venting.
Understanding this demand, technology leaders are now producing software that can help companies comply with the regulations. Among them is IFS Merrick – a comprehensive solution from IFS, a vendor primarily focused on industrial and financial ERP solutions. The offering delivers enterprise software for companies globally that manufacture and distribute goods, build and maintain assets and manage service-focused operations.
On its own, IFS Merrick is an end-to-end production solution that helps oil and gas companies monitor and improve production operations and results through the collection, accounting and reporting of accurate and validated production data. IFS Merrick is optimized for all types of operations – onshore/offshore and conventional/unconventional.
One of the key features of IFS Merrick is that it can be tailored to streamline the management of venting and flaring from mobile field operations to reporting and analytics, along with 13 pre-approved event codes, essential for compliance. This way, operators can eliminate reliance on error-prone spreadsheets and manual data entry, saving time and resources.
Designed to capture field data and regulatory reporting with tools like Field Operator, Route Surveillance, Carte, ProCount and eVIN, companies can rely on the software to simplify the entire process with the possibility of customizing the solution to comply with individual regulations in each state through direct collaboration with IFS.
In a time of growing unpredictability and complex regulatory landscape, it is crucial for organizations to be able to provide accurate reports and maintain ESG compliance. With solutions like IFS Merrick, businesses can focus on critical goals at hand while seamlessly ensuring safety and governance in operations.
