Flow rate and source reservoir identification from airborne
chemical sampling of the uncontrolled Elgin platform gas
release

Lee, James; Mobbs, Stephen; Wellpott, Axel; Allen, Grant; Bauguitte, Stéphane; Burton, Ralph; Camilli, Richard; Coe, Hugh; Fisher, Rebecca E.; France, James L.; Gallagher, Martin; Hopkins, James R.; Lanoisellé, M.; Lewis, Alastair C.; Lowry, David; Nisbet, E. G.; Purvis, R. M.; O’Shea, Sebastian; Pyle, J. A.; Ryerson, Thomas B.

doi:10.5194/amt-2017-332

Cited by 3 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Photo: Mathias Lanoisellé (RHUL group). (lower right) 30 March onboard CH 4 plot for measurements 5 nautical miles (9.26 km) downwind of the leak; peaks are for measurements at different altitudes—from left 37, 153, and 233 m (see Lee, Mobbs, et al, ). (upper right) Keeling plot of air samples from Elgin methane plume.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2σ error: geometric mean regression). Measurements of CH 4 and δ 13 C CH4 at RHUL (Lee, Mobbs, et al, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Aircraft are important when major unexpected events occur. An uncontrolled gas release took place from the Elgin platform in the U.K. North Sea from 25 March to 16 May 2012 (Lee, Mobbs, et al, ). When the gas blowout occurred, the U.K. FAAM (Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurement) BAe146 aircraft was fortuitously fully equipped as it had just returned from measuring methane in Scandinavia: It was immediately sent to fly over the gas platform (Figure ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the gas blowout occurred, the U.K. FAAM (Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurement) BAe146 aircraft was fortuitously fully equipped as it had just returned from measuring methane in Scandinavia: It was immediately sent to fly over the gas platform (Figure ). Flying at low altitude, FAAM was able to map out and sample the plume of methane‐rich gas from the leak (Lee, Mobbs, et al, ). This study was carried out flying normal to wind direction.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pitt et al () quantified fluxes using a mass balance approach for the Greater London area using the U.K. FAAM research aircraft (http://www.faam.ac.uk) equipped with a cavity‐enhanced absorption spectrometer. The same aircraft was used by Lee, Mobbs, et al (), to quantify emission flux from an uncontrolled methane leak from an oil platform in the North Sea. Likewise, O'Shea et al () used a cavity‐enhanced absorption spectrometer for airborne measurements over Arctic Scandinavia.…”

Section: Quantification Of Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement

Nisbet

Fisher

Lowry

et al. 2020

Reviews of Geophysics

235

131

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The atmospheric methane burden is increasing rapidly, contrary to pathways compatible with the goals of the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Paris Agreement. Urgent action is required to bring methane back to a pathway more in line with the Paris goals. Emission reduction from “tractable” (easier to mitigate) anthropogenic sources such as the fossil fuel industries and landfills is being much facilitated by technical advances in the past decade, which have radically improved our ability to locate, identify, quantify, and reduce emissions. Measures to reduce emissions from “intractable” (harder to mitigate) anthropogenic sources such as agriculture and biomass burning have received less attention and are also becoming more feasible, including removal from elevated‐methane ambient air near to sources. The wider effort to use microbiological and dietary intervention to reduce emissions from cattle (and humans) is not addressed in detail in this essentially geophysical review. Though they cannot replace the need to reach “net‐zero” emissions of CO2, significant reductions in the methane burden will ease the timescales needed to reach required CO2 reduction targets for any particular future temperature limit. There is no single magic bullet, but implementation of a wide array of mitigation and emission reduction strategies could substantially cut the global methane burden, at a cost that is relatively low compared to the parallel and necessary measures to reduce CO2, and thereby reduce the atmospheric methane burden back toward pathways consistent with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(2σ error: geometric mean regression). Measurements of CH 4 and δ 13 C CH4 at RHUL (Lee, Mobbs, et al, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Quantification Of Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement

Nisbet

Fisher

Lowry

et al. 2020

Reviews of Geophysics

235

131

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Satellite observations reveal extreme methane leakage from a natural gas well blowout

Pandey

Gautam

Houweling

et al. 2019

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

160

132

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Methane emissions due to accidents in the oil and natural gas sector are very challenging to monitor, and hence are seldom considered in emission inventories and reporting. One of the main reasons is the lack of measurements during such events. Here we report the detection of large methane emissions from a gas well blowout in Ohio during February to March 2018 in the total column methane measurements from the spaceborne Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI). From these data, we derive a methane emission rate of 120 ± 32 metric tons per hour. This hourly emission rate is twice that of the widely reported Aliso Canyon event in California in 2015. Assuming the detected emission represents the average rate for the 20-d blowout period, we find the total methane emission from the well blowout is comparable to one-quarter of the entire state of Ohio’s reported annual oil and natural gas methane emission, or, alternatively, a substantial fraction of the annual anthropogenic methane emissions from several European countries. Our work demonstrates the strength and effectiveness of routine satellite measurements in detecting and quantifying greenhouse gas emission from unpredictable events. In this specific case, the magnitude of a relatively unknown yet extremely large accidental leakage was revealed using measurements of TROPOMI in its routine global survey, providing quantitative assessment of associated methane emissions.

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Methane emissions in the Netherlands: The Groningen field

Yacovitch

Neininger²,

Herndon

et al. 2018

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

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The Groningen natural gas field in the Netherlands – one of Europe’s major gas fields – deploys a “production cluster” infrastructure with extraction, some processing and storage in a single facility. This region is also the site of intensive agriculture and cattle operations. We present results from a multi-scale measurement campaign of methane emissions, including ground and airborne-based estimates. Results are compared with inventory at both the facility and regional level.Investigation of production cluster emissions in the Groningen gas field shows that production volume alone is not a good indicator of whether, and how much, a site is emitting methane. Sites that are nominally shut down may still be emitting, and vice-versa. As a result, the inventory emission factors applied to these sites (i.e. weighted by production) do a poor job of reproducing individual site emissions. Additional facility-level case studies are presented, including a plume at 150 ± 50 kg CH4 hr–1 with an unidentified off-shore emission source, a natural gas storage facility and landfills.Methane emissions in a study region covering 6000 km2 and including the majority of the Groningen field are dominated by biogenic sources (e.g. agriculture, wetlands, cattle). Total methane emissions (8 ± 2 Mg hr–1) are lower than inventory predictions (14 Mg hr–1) but the proportion of fossil fuel sources is higher than indicated by the inventory. Apportionment of methane emissions between thermogenic and biogenic source types used ethane/methane ratios in aircraft flasks and ground-based source characterization. We find that emissions from the oil and gas sector account for 20% of regional methane, with 95% confidence limits of (0%, 51%). The experimental uncertainties bound the inventory apportionment of 1.9%, though the central estimate of 20% exceeds this result by nearly 10 times. This study’s uncertainties demonstrate the need for additional research focusing on emissions apportionment, inventory refinement and offshore platforms.

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Flow rate and source reservoir identification from airborne chemical sampling of the uncontrolled Elgin platform gas release

Cited by 3 publications

References 16 publications

Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement

Methane Mitigation: Methods to Reduce Emissions, on the Path to the Paris Agreement

Satellite observations reveal extreme methane leakage from a natural gas well blowout

Methane emissions in the Netherlands: The Groningen field

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