Widespread Frequent Methane Emissions From the Oil and Gas Industry in the Permian Basin

Abstract

Methane (CH 4 ) is the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). As the atmospheric lifetime of CH 4 is relatively short at 9.1 ± 0.9 years (Masson-Delmotte et al., 2021) and the global warming potential large, a reduction in CH 4 emissions would lower the combined radiative forcing from greenhouse gases on a timescale of years making it a relatively efficient option to mitigate climate change. For this reason, the Global Methane Pledge was initiated at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November 2021 (European Commission, United States of America, 2021), which aims at reducing CH 4 emissions by 30% by 2030.A significant fraction of global methane emissions comes from the oil and gas (O&G) industry (IEA, 2021). CH 4 is emitted during the construction of new wells, when operating, during storage and transportation of oil and gas, and when wells are abandoned. Some of the emissions are intended releases, for example, from venting, while others are unintentional and caused by malfunctioning equipment or by accidents. The CH 4 emissions of the oil and gas supply chain are estimated as 13 ± 2 Tg yr −1 (Alvarez et al., 2018) in the USA in

Assessing the Relative Importance of Satellite-Detected Methane Superemitters in Quantifying Total Emissions for Oil and Gas Production Areas in Algeria

“…In addition, the differences between signals from superemitters and the diffuse area source are often smaller than the model transport errors. This might be different in other areas where production is more spread out (e.g., the Permian Basin , ).…”

“…As addressing such large point sources can be cost-beneficial, they are an attractive target for climate mitigation . In terms of regional emissions, smaller sources also contribute significantly as an aggregate, and achieving optimal reductions in O/G methane emissions will require mitigation of these emissions as well. − However, the relative contribution of superemitters versus other sources to total O/G emissions remains uncertain and will likely vary between regions. Here, we present a novel atmospheric emission inversion approach to estimate total area emissions along with the contributions from superemitters, which we apply to two important O/G production areas in Algeria.…”

Synthesis of Satellite and Surface Measurements, Model Results, and FRAPPÉ Study Findings to Assess the Impacts of Oil and Gas Emissions Reductions on Maximum Ozone in the Denver Metro and Northern Front Range Region in Colorado

“…Possible issues include the following: (a) Inherent (Angevine et al., 2020) and reported uncertainties in top‐down flux studies are large. (b) Recent work suggests that methane emissions in O&G fields can vary dramatically on daily, weekly, and monthly time scales (Varon et al., 2022; Veefkind et al., 2022). Varon et al.…”

“…There are, however, many reasons for viewing the resulting trend with caution. Key issues include the large uncertainties in top‐down flux studies (Angevine et al., 2020), the potential significant variability of fluxes in O&G fields on daily, weekly, and monthly time scales (Varon et al., 2022; Veefkind et al., 2022), and the limited temporal sampling represented by these DM/NFR studies. In addition, accurate representation of complex terrain‐driven meteorology in the DM/NFR is essential for accurate satellite methane inversion modeling.…”

Sources of Formaldehyde in U.S. Oil and Gas Production Regions

“…Most production regions in the United States are in relatively remote regions, where ground-based pollution measurements are sparse or nonexistent. Satellite remote sensing data have therefore played an important role in quantifying the emissions of methane and nitrogen oxides. ,− Satellite measurements of the nonmethane hydrocarbons released from oil and gas are not available to date. What is available are measurements of formaldehyde (HCHO), which can be released as a combustion byproduct and formed in the atmosphere from the photooxidation of precursor VOCs.…”