Attempt to estimate historical methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Franke ◽  
Andreas Bahr ◽  
Johannes Gütschow ◽  
Martin Blumenberg ◽  
Stefan Ladage ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Federal Institute ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Natural Oil ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas

<p>The worldwide operating petroleum industry is considered as one of the major contributors to global anthropogenic methane emissions. However, not only absolute numbers of methane emissions from oil and natural gas production and distribution vary greatly in different global inventories, also the relative contribution of the oil and the gas sector is under discussion. In different studies, the majority of methane emissions are assigned either to natural gas or to the oil sector. For the climate emission origins are of course irrelevant, however, for the climate budget of natural gas usage it is important to know which emissions are attributable to natural gas and what number is related to oil production with its associated natural gas.</p><p>Here we use the Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources’ (BGR) worldwide database on natural oil and gas production and consumption, dating back to 1900, and compare it to global bottom-up methane emission inventories. We will present and discuss several regression approaches that fit the global data reasonably well. In addition, methane emissions of country groups are compared to natural oil and gas production and consumption data. This study finds that the emission factors that relate to gas production released during oil and gas extraction likely vary over the time and across different production areas in the world.</p>

Introduction to this special section: Exploration geophysics in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (8) ◽  
pp. 596-596
Author(s):  
Yongyi Li ◽  
Xiaogui Miao ◽  
Shoudong Huo ◽  
Jianwei Ma ◽  
Danping Cao
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil Consumption ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Gas Consumption ◽  
Natural Gas Consumption

China ranks second and third in global oil and natural gas consumption, and fifth and sixth in global oil and natural gas production, respectively ( U.S. EIA, 2018 ). In the past 25 years, China's oil consumption has increased 3.5 times, and natural gas consumption is rising rapidly as well. China is increasing its investment in the petroleum industry, with a goal of significantly expanding domestic oil and gas production. Complex geology, rough surface conditions, and the need to explore deep targets, unconventional resources, and offshore reservoirs pose great challenges to geophysical exploration. Geophysical technologies in China thus have advanced significantly in data acquisition, processing, and interpretation. To demonstrate the development and applications of geophysical technologies in the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas resources, we invited academic and industry experts to present recent studies on exploration geophysics in China.

scholarly journals Daily Satellite Observations of Methane from Oil and Gas Production Regions in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieternel Levelt ◽  
Pepijn Veefkind ◽  
Esther Roosenbrand ◽  
John Lin ◽  
Jochen Landgraf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Natural Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas

<p>Production of oil and natural gas in North America is at an all-time high due to the development and use of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. Methane emissions associated with this industrial activity are a concern because of the contribution to climate radiative forcing. We present new measurements from the space-based TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) launched in 2017 that show methane enhancements over production regions in the United States. Using methane and NO<sub>2</sub> column measurements from the new TROPOMI instrument, we show that emissions from oil and gas production in the Uintah and Permian Basins can be observed in the data from individual overpasses. This is a vast improvement over measurements from previous satellite instruments, which typically needed to be averaged over a year or more to quantify trends and regional enhancements in methane emissions. In the Uintah Basin in Utah, TROPOMI methane columns correlated with in-situ measurements, and the highest columns were observed over the deepest parts of the basin, consistent with the accumulation of emissions underneath inversions. In the Permian Basin in Texas and New Mexico, methane columns showed maxima over regions with the highest natural gas production and were correlated with nitrogen-dioxide columns at a ratio that is consistent with results from in-situ airborne measurements. The improved detail provided by TROPOMI will likely enable the timely monitoring from space of methane and NO2 emissions associated with regular oil and natural gas production.</p>

scholarly journals Declining methane emissions and steady, high leakage rates observed over multiple years in a western US oil/gas production basin

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Lin ◽  
Ryan Bares ◽  
Benjamin Fasoli ◽  
Maria Garcia ◽  
Erik Crosman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Production Region ◽  
Main Component ◽  
Oil Gas ◽  
The U.S

AbstractMethane, a potent greenhouse gas, is the main component of natural gas. Previous research has identified considerable methane emissions associated with oil and gas production, but estimates of emission trends have been inconsistent, in part due to limited in-situ methane observations spanning multiple years in oil/gas production regions. Here we present a unique analysis of one of the longest-running datasets of in-situ methane observations from an oil/gas production region in Utah’s Uinta Basin. The observations indicate Uinta methane emissions approximately halved between 2015 and 2020, along with declining gas production. As a percentage of gas production, however, emissions remained steady over the same years, at ~ 6–8%, among the highest in the U.S. Addressing methane leaks and recovering more of the economically valuable natural gas is critical, as the U.S. seeks to address climate change through aggressive greenhouse emission reductions.

scholarly journals Methane emissions from oil and gas production sites in Alberta, Canada

Elem Sci Anth ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Zavala-Araiza ◽  
Scott C. Herndon ◽  
Joseph R. Roscioli ◽  
Tara I. Yacovitch ◽  
Matthew R. Johnson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
The United States ◽  
Methane Emissions ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Airborne Measurement ◽  
Frequent Monitoring ◽  
Light Oil ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas

We performed ground-based measurements (downwind, site-wide characterization) of methane emissions from older light oil and natural gas production sites in Alberta, Canada (Red Deer region, 60 measured sites). We developed a distribution of site-based methane emissions and as previously found in production regions in the United States, a small fraction of the sites account for the majority of methane emissions: 20% of the sites emit three quarters of the methane from oil and gas production. Using empirically derived emission factors, we compared an estimate of regional methane emissions, to a top-down airborne-based measurement of the same region. The airborne measurement was 35% lower, though not statistically different (4,800 ± 3,200 vs. 3,100 ± 2,200 kg CH4 h–1). In Alberta, the majority of these oil and gas emissions go unreported under current reporting requirements. Effective mitigation will most likely require frequent monitoring to identify high-emitting sites as well as leaky components that we hypothesize are also a major contributor to emissions.

NOx emissions from U.S. oil and gas production using TROPOMI NO2 and the divergence method

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Dix ◽  
Colby Francoeur ◽  
Brian McDonald ◽  
Raquel Serrano ◽  
Pepijn Veefkind ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Ground Level ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Nox Emissions ◽  
Permian Basin ◽  
Oil And Gas Production ◽  
Horizontal Drilling ◽  
Surface Measurements ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas

<p>The development of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing has led to a steep increase in the U.S. production of natural gas and crude oil from shale formations since the mid 2000s. Associated with this industrial activity are emissions of ground-level ozone precursors such as nitrogen oxides (NOx). Satellite data are important in this context, because surface measurements are limited or non-existent in rural regions, where most U.S. oil and gas production operations take place. Here we use TROPOMI NO<sub>2</sub> observations to study NOx emissions coming from oil and natural gas production sites. Applying the divergence method we quantify basin wide emissions from well pad fields and aim to push spatial and temporal resolution of this technique. The divergence was method introduced by Beirle et al. (Science Advances 2019) to quantify point source emissions. It relies on calculating the divergence of the NO<sub>2</sub> flux to derive NOx sources and estimating the NO<sub>2</sub> lifetime to quantify sinks. Our analysis will include an assessment of different methods to constrain the NO<sub>2</sub> lifetime, which becomes particularly important when applying this method to larger areas. Further we will compare our results with bottom-up derived emissions. Here we use the Fuel-based Oil & Gas (FOG) inventory that calculates NOx emissions based on fuel consumption. Initial results show good agreement for the Permian Basin (NM, TX) and we will expand our analysis to other U.S. basins.</p>

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