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Methane emissions from US low production oil and natural gas well sites

Eighty percent of US oil and natural gas (O&G) production sites are low production well sites, with average site-level production ≤15 barrels of oil equivalent per day and producing only 6% of the nation’s O&G output in 2019. Here, we integrate national site-level O&G production data and...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Omara, Mark, Zavala-Araiza, Daniel, Lyon, David R., Hmiel, Benjamin, Roberts, Katherine A., Hamburg, Steven P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9019036/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35440563
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-29709-3
Descripción
Sumario:Eighty percent of US oil and natural gas (O&G) production sites are low production well sites, with average site-level production ≤15 barrels of oil equivalent per day and producing only 6% of the nation’s O&G output in 2019. Here, we integrate national site-level O&G production data and previously reported site-level CH(4) measurement data (n = 240) and find that low production well sites are a disproportionately large source of US O&G well site CH(4) emissions, emitting more than 4 (95% confidence interval: 3—6) teragrams, 50% more than the total CH(4) emissions from the Permian Basin, one of the world’s largest O&G producing regions. We estimate low production well sites represent roughly half (37—75%) of all O&G well site CH(4) emissions, and a production-normalized CH(4) loss rate of more than 10%—a factor of 6—12 times higher than the mean CH(4) loss rate of 1.5% for all O&G well sites in the US. Our work suggests that achieving significant reductions in O&G CH(4) emissions will require mitigation of emissions from low production well sites.