Estimation of greenhouse gas emissions from Iran's gas flaring by using satellite data and combustion equations

Abstract

In addition to the waste of resources and economic losses, environmental damage by gas flaring is widespread and significant. Since flaring the associated gas gives no added value in exchange for its pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, it could be identified as a top priority for mitigation. Iran is the third gas flaring country after Russia and Iraq among those facing this issue, and is responsible for 12.1% of the world's gas flaring. While the necessity of developing a method for the precise estimation of flaring GHG emissions is clear, especially for evaluating the result of countries' efforts to meet their nationally determined contribution target, there are huge uncertainties and discrepancies in the values of emission factors among various data sources due to the lack of actual measurements of the volume and diversity of the composition of flare gas. This study aimed to fill the gap in providing authentic data on Iran's gas flaring GHG and air pollutant emissions by developing a model based on satellite data on flare volumes, gas compositions, and combustion equations. Our results revealed that based on 2021 data on flaring volume, Iranian gas flares are emitting approximately 50 million metric tons of CO 2 equivalent to the atmosphere annually, which could be reduced to 43 by only enhancing the flares' efficiency. It accounted for 5.5%-6% of the total GHG emissions of the country.

A CMIP6 Multi-Model Analysis of the Impact of Climate Change on Severe Meteorological Droughts through Multiple Drought Indices—Case Study of Iran’s Metropolises

“…Iran, as the Middle East's foremost emitter and the world's seventh-largest contributor of greenhouse gases, owes its significant emissions to the substantial production and consumption of oil and gas, coupled with rapid urbanization [55]. Figure 3 illustrates the historical trends in the average temperature and precipitation across Iran's metropolitan areas, providing clear evidence of the country's susceptibility to climate change.…”

Multi-Temporal Satellite Investigation of gas Flaring in Iraq and Iran: The DAFI Porting on Collection 2 Landsat 8/9 and Sentinel 2A/B

“…In addition, these countries recorded the highest change in gas-flared volumes between 2012 and 2021, +5.1 and +6.3 BCM, against an overall global change of +1.3 BCM ( Figure 2 b). A mostly linear increase in BCM was recorded in years 2012–2021 for Iraq ( Figure 2 b, green dashed line), where around 40% of the gas production flared [ 24 ]. According to a World Bank estimate, Iraq flares around 16 BCM of gas per year, or 0.5% of global production, which has the potential to power three million homes [ 22 ].…”