Beyond an earnest desire to minimise the environmental impact of operations, it also pays for investors to take the issue seriously, to avoid eroding the value of their asset, Clayton Nash, the director of emissions solutions at Colorado-based Tegre Corporation, tells NewsBase. Learn more about Tegre's practical approach to addressing the most common emission sources. Download the free guide, "3 Common Oil & Gas Emissions Causes," with actionable solutions here.

Attention to methane emissions abatement in the US oil and gas industry continues to grow, despite a shifting policy landscape, according to Clayton Nash, the director of emissions solutions at Colorado-based consultancy Tegre. Beyond an earnest desire to minimise the environmental impact of operations, it also pays for investors to take the issue seriously, to avoid eroding the value of their assets, he told NewsBase.
Tegre’s core business is engineering and design, but it began offering emissions mitigation services as a standalone extra package several years ago across the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors. Back then, many firms, particularly smaller ones, lacked in-house expertise to manage methane emissions.
“There’s been a learning curve since – increasingly they see this as a very important issue that they need to pay attention to, and so they are building up their expertise,” Nash said.
There is now growing awareness among both current and potential investors that emissions management is directly tied to asset value, he explained. Asset owners aim to improve emissions profiles to secure better sale prices, while buyers conduct thorough due diligence on those profiles to ensure the assets they buy won’t lose value if they fall short of future regulation.
This comes amid a wave of mergers and acquisitions that has swept across the US oil and gas sector in recent years.
“If companies don’t have a compliant emissions profile, then they find out the hard way that these private equity firms and investment houses are going to write down the value of their assets because they don’t comply with the regulation,” Nash said.

Future-proofing for regulation
The Trump administration has rolled back some methane emissions rules, including a fee on excess emissions introduced under the previous administration. But oil and gas operators are conscious that regulation could well be tightened again under a future government.
“What I see from most of my clients is that they are still going to comply with the core regulations that were put in place in late 2023, because they are wary of wild swings in the regulations every four years,” Nash said. “Either they incur costs to retroactively comply with the future rules, or they take the value hit to their assets when they go to market because of the projected future cost of compliance.”
This said, Tegre advises its clients against aligning with certain previous regulatory requirements where they are impractical. One example was a Biden-era mandate to use flares with continuous net heating value monitoring, which is intended to limit uncombusted methane. Nash said simpler, lower-cost methods – such as monitoring flame temperature and flow rate – can achieve the same result.
“Sticking with these kinds of rules is expensive and impractical especially when there are thousands of flares out in the fields,” Nash said. “We advise keeping with the low-cost but effective solutions because the regulation is not practical.  Ensuring that flares are lit and achieving high levels of combustion is adequate until the industry catches up with practical solutions that comply with the intent of the rule.”
In the age of heightened focus on energy security across the world, environmental social and governance (ESG) terminology is evolving. 
With greater focus on energy security and affordability, Nash said ESG concepts are evolving. 
“Some of the superfluous parts are being weeded out,” he said. “But what has not changed is that every investor wants their assets to retain and increase their value, and they need to focus on emissions to ensure that.”
Furthermore, he said “investors want to feel good about what they’re investing in, that they aren’t causing damage to the environment. That’s a growing force in the investment community.”

A nuanced approach
Companies are increasingly focusing on better design of new facilities and upgrades to existing ones, as well as sound operational practices, to cut emissions, Nash said. In this process they seek expertise from companies like Tegre, which prides itself on taking a “nuanced approach” to emissions mitigation, according to Nash. Operators can then demonstrate data on emissions and secure certification from organisations like MiQ, to boost the value of their assets.
Tegre’s approach consists of three tiers of practical solutions. The first includes quick, low-cost fixes such as automation controls, typically implemented within weeks and costing under $10,000. The second tier spans broader improvements costing $10,000 to $100,000. The third involves rebuilding parts of facilities at costs above $100,000.
“We take a nuanced approach and build our solutions as much as possible around the existing on-site infrastructure,” Nash said. “With some targeted system adjustments, automation, and remote monitoring, we can significantly reduce emissions — not to perfection, but to a level that’s both effective and practical.”
First and second-tier solutions can often be applied to similar sites that likely have similar issues. Third-tier upgrades are used selectively and usually designed to accommodate future project development. Nash said the company is increasingly able to anticipate problems as its experience grows.
Founded in 2014, Tegre now has over 70 employees and has worked with dozens of clients on emissions mitigation, with new ones joining monthly.
Despite this growth over the years, Tegre is eager to maintain the advantages that a small company has over larger peers.
“The larger the firm gets, the more likely it is to have standardised solutions and processes,” Nash said. “We have maintained that creative edge, continuing to develop nuanced solutions for our clients. We have room to grow, but we want to stay small and nimble.”
All of Tegre’s current clients are in the US and Canada, but the company is looking to expand its reach. Nash will speak at the International Forum to Attract Foreign Investments in Turkmenistan's Economy (TEIF 2025), held in Kuala Lumpur on April 23-24, which will be attended by senior Turkmen government officials and global energy and financial stakeholders.
Turkmenistan recognises the importance of addressing methane emissions, and is actively seeking international expertise to achieve this, Nash said, noting the extensive discussions on the topic that took place at the Oil and Gas of Turkmenistan 2024 conference in Ashgabat last October.

Specializing in the oil and gas industry, Tegre Corporation engages in a data-driven approach to providing expert services for environmental compliance and emissions control. Their approach entails developing an array of mitigation options to help their clients develop tailored strategies that are pragmatic, cost-effective, and leverage their breadth in experience across numerous basins and multiple asset types.  Tegre is a partner of bne IntelliNews and Newsbase.