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

Mark Omara (), Daniel Zavala-Araiza, David R. Lyon, Benjamin Hmiel, Katherine A. Roberts and Steven P. Hamburg
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Mark Omara: Environmental Defense Fund
Daniel Zavala-Araiza: Environmental Defense Fund
David R. Lyon: Environmental Defense Fund
Benjamin Hmiel: Environmental Defense Fund
Katherine A. Roberts: Environmental Defense Fund
Steven P. Hamburg: Environmental Defense Fund

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract 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 CH4 measurement data (n = 240) and find that low production well sites are a disproportionately large source of US O&G well site CH4 emissions, emitting more than 4 (95% confidence interval: 3—6) teragrams, 50% more than the total CH4 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 CH4 emissions, and a production-normalized CH4 loss rate of more than 10%—a factor of 6—12 times higher than the mean CH4 loss rate of 1.5% for all O&G well sites in the US. Our work suggests that achieving significant reductions in O&G CH4 emissions will require mitigation of emissions from low production well sites.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29709-3

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