Quantification of Methane Sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by Aircraft Mass-Balance

Baray, Sabour; Darlington, Andrea; Gordon, Mark S.; Hayden, K. L.; Leithead, Amy; Li, Shao-Meng; Liu, Peter S. K.; Mittermeier, R. L.; Moussa, Samar G.; O’Brien, Jason M.; Staebler, R. M.; Wolde, Mengistu; Worthy, Doug; McLaren, R.

doi:10.5194/acp-2017-925

Cited by 6 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Our findings are consistent with previous CH 4 emission studies within Canadian developments; no studies have yet identified a Canadian oil and gas producing region with emissions lower than the inventory estimate. In previous studies, factors of 1–15 have been estimated, with most being in the range of 1.5–3.0 9 – 11 , 14 , 15 . This implies that CH 4 abatement costs could be lower per ton of CO 2 equivalent than previously reported, due to higher volumes of CH 4 (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production in Canada are underestimated

MacKay

Lavoie

Bourlon

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

102

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Methane emissions were measured at 6650 sites across six major oil and gas producing regions in Canada to examine regional emission trends, and to derive an inventory estimate for Canada’s upstream oil and gas sector. Emissions varied by fluid type and geographic region, with the heavy oil region of Lloydminster ranking highest on both absolute and intensity-based scales. Emission intensities varied widely for natural gas production, where older, low-producing developments such as Medicine Hat, Alberta showed high emission intensities, and newer developments in Montney, British Columbia showed emission intensities that are amongst the lowest in North America. Overall, we estimate that the Canadian upstream oil and gas methane inventory is underestimated by a factor of 1.5, which is consistent with previous studies of individual regions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production in Canada are underestimated

MacKay

Lavoie

Bourlon

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

102

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“…Recent studies indicate that O&G CH 4 emissions may be significantly underestimated or mischaracterized (6)(7)(8)(9)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18). Ground and airborne measurement campaigns have built a clearer picture of these emissions, indicating US O&G emissions are 60% higher than in the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emission inventories (9,19).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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 is emitted from a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources (e.g. [1,2] and references therein) and on a permolecule basis, methane is about 30 times more effective a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Existing methane DIAL systems operate in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) spectral range between 1.65 and 2.3 μm, and due to low Raleigh scattering, methane profiling is possible only inside regions containing significant amounts of aerosol.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Potential of Raman Lidar for Profiling of Methane Mixing Ratio in the Lower Troposphere

Veselovskii

Goloub

et al. 2020

EPJ Web Conf.

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The results of methane profiling in the lower troposphere by Raman lidar from Lille University observatory platform (France), are presented. The use of powerful DPSS tripled Nd:YAG laser allowed profiling of methane background mixing ratio of 2 ppm in the night time up to 4000 m with 100 m height and 1 hour temporal resolution. Enhancement of CH4 mixing ratio inside the boundary layer comparing to the free troposphere values was observed.

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Quantification of Methane Sources in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region of Alberta by Aircraft Mass-Balance

Abstract: Abstract. Aircraft-based measurements of methane (CH4) and other air pollutants in the Athabasca Oil 10

Cited by 6 publications

References 41 publications

Methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production in Canada are underestimated

Methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production in Canada are underestimated

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

Potential of Raman Lidar for Profiling of Methane Mixing Ratio in the Lower Troposphere

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