Oil & Gas Watch Database

About Oil & Gas Watch

In less than a decade, fracking and new oil and gas drilling techniques have turned the United States into the largest producer of oil and gas in the world. This surge of oil and gas production has led to a massive buildout of processing plants and refineries that convert fracked oil and gas into plastics, petrochemicals, synthetic fertilizer, liquid fuels, and electricity. This boom has also led to an exponential increase in the pipeline networks and storage hubs needed to transport the oil and gas from production wells to export terminals and other sites.

Oil & Gas Watch is a free, public inventory that tracks this rapid expansion of oil, gas, and petrochemical infrastructure throughout the United States. It maps new and expanding oil, gas, and petrochemical infrastructure projects across the country and monitors each project’s construction status so the public can stay informed about major oil and gas developments being proposed in their communities. We track key environmental approvals companies must obtain before starting construction or operations and provide access to thousands of government records and permits unearthed by our analysts. This information provides a glimpse into how new and expanding facilities in these pollution-heavy industries could impact the environment and public health. The information in Oil & Gas Watch comes from public sources like government records, news articles, and corporate filings and disclosures.

The Oil & Gas Watch News website and newsletter build on our oil and gas database by providing in-depth analyses and timely reports based on the public records and data we have collected. The news site features original reporting, research, interviews in the field, and photos by the journalists, analysts, and experts in the Environmental Integrity Project’s Center for Environmental Investigations.

Oil & Gas Watch was created by the Environmental Integrity Project, a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded by former EPA attorneys to improve enforcement of environmental laws. The Environmental Integrity Project is based in Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas. Oil & Gas Watch is supported by the Funder Collaborative on Oil and Gas, the Beyond Petrochemical Campaign, the Tilia Fund, and other foundation supporters.

What We're Tracking

The construction or operating status of new and expanding oil, gas, and petrochemical facilities and pipelines proposed or built since 2012. The types of facilities and pipelines that we’re tracking are listed below.

Natural Gas

  • Gas processing plants
  • Natural gas pipelines & compressor Stations
  • Liquefied natural gas plants, export terminals and storage facilities

Petroleum

  • Crude Oil Pipelines
  • Crude Oil Storage Terminals
  • Crude Oil Export Terminals
  • Petroleum Refineries

Petrochemicals & Plastics

  • Natural gas liquids fractionation plants
  • Natural gas liquids storage hubs, pipelines, and export terminals
  • Ethylene crackers and propylene plants
  • Plastic resin manufacturing plants
  • Methanol and other organic chemical plants
  • Chemical recycling plants
  • Ammonia and nitrogen fertilizer plants
  • Hydrogen plants
  • Chemical plants that produce ingredients key to the manufacturing of plastics, like chlor-alkali plants, or otherwise use hydrocarbon feedstocks

Carbon Capture, Use, and Storage

  • Carbon capture projects that involve capturing industrial carbon dioxide emissions from oil, gas, or petrochemical plants
  • Direct air capture facilities
  • Carbon dioxide pipelines
  • Carbon dioxide storage sites

Other

  • Seawater desalination and produced water treatment plants that supply oil, gas, and petrochemical plants
  • Facilities that process "renewable" feedstocks into chemicals or transportation fuels

The database also tracks potential air emissions increases (or decreases) from each new or expanding facility, including greenhouse gasses (measured as carbon dioxide equivalents, or CO2e), and health-harming “criteria” air pollutants like sulfur dioxide (which damages the lungs), nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds (both of which contribute to smog), microscopic soot or particulate matter (which can trigger asthma and heart attacks), and carbon monoxide (which can inhibit oxygen intake to the heart and brain). Information about potential hazardous air emissions, like benzene and formaldehyde, is also provided where available.

We’re also following the status of key environmental permits or approvals that companies must obtain before starting construction or commencing operations. These permits limit the amount of pollution that facilities can release into the environment and nearby communities by setting enforceable emissions limits or requiring companies to install and operate pollution control technologies. These permits offer opportunities for public input during public comment periods. It’s crucial for community members to participate in the public comment process, especially after a permit application has been submitted or a draft permit has been issued, to ensure that they have a voice in permitting actions.

Contact Us

Oil & Gas Watch was created by the Environmental Integrity Project, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to enforcing environmental laws and holding polluters and governments accountable to protect public health. While we have been meticulous in our efforts to identify data entry errors, this work is done by actual humans and it is possible that errors are present. If you would like an electronic copy of any original document we used in this project, or suspect that you have identified an error, please contact us.