Zefiro Methane secures methane monitoring contract

Executive Summary

• Zefiro Methane Corp. has secured its first-ever methane monitoring contract, marking a strategic expansion into environmental services funded by the EPA's Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP).
• The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) awarded Zefiro a project for preplugging and postplugging methane quantification and well identification, with expected revenue of approximately $800,000 (U.S.).
• Zefiro will act as a subcontractor to North Wind Site Services, leveraging its existing capabilities in environmental remediation and carbon offset origination to offer asset-light, scalable methane monitoring services.

Key Details

• Contract Value: Approximately $800,000 (U.S.) in revenue.
• Client/Partner: Awarded by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP); Zefiro is performing the work as a subcontractor to North Wind Site Services.
• Scope of Work:
  • Preplugging and postplugging methane quantification.
  • Locating oil/gas wells to identify candidates for plugging.
  • Conducting measurements for an allotment of well sites in West Virginia to quantify methane emissions removed by plugging.
• Funding Source: The project is funded under the Inflation Reduction Act via the EPA's Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP).
  • MERP provides $1.36-billion (U.S.) in financial and technical assistance for GHG emissions reductions.
  • On Dec. 20, 2024, the EPA and DOE announced $850-million (U.S.) specifically for reducing, monitoring, measuring, and quantifying methane emissions.
• Operational Capabilities:
  • Zefiro’s field personnel meet U.S. DOE National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) standards, including a minimum of 480 hours of field experience in screening, measurement, and quantification.
  • The service is described as asset-light with low capital expenditure (capex) and operating expenditure (opex) burdens, making it profitable from the start and highly scalable.
• Market Opportunity:
  • Zefiro currently operates in five of the 27 U.S. states with documented unplugged orphaned oil/gas wells: Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Oklahoma.
  • The company aims to capture business in new markets as more states launch MERP initiatives.

Notable Quotes

• Catherine Flax, Interim CEO: "Methane monitoring is something that we were already doing at Zefiro as part of our due diligence in originating carbon offsets... However, performing methane monitoring as a stand-alone revenue-generating service unlocks an opportunity for us to drive value from tasks that we would otherwise ordinarily be performing using existing equipment and crew members."
• Catherine Flax, Interim CEO: "What makes methane monitoring especially attractive from a business perspective is that it is asset-light and operationally efficient... there are very low capex and opex burdens, meaning that this type of work tends to be profitable from the very beginning, and it is highly scalable as more U.S. states begin launching their MERP initiatives..."