Assessment of methane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas supply chain

Ramón A Alvarez; Daniel Zavala-Araiza; David R Lyon; David T Allen; Zachary R Barkley; Adam R Brandt; Kenneth J Davis; Scott C Herndon; Daniel J Jacob; Anna Karion; Eric A Kort; Brian K Lamb; Thomas Lauvaux; Joannes D Maasakkers; Anthony J Marchese; Mark Omara; Stephen W Pacala; Jeff Peischl; Allen L Robinson; Paul B Shepson; Colm Sweeney; Amy Townsend-Small; Steven C Wofsy; Steven P Hamburg

doi:10.1126/science.aar7204

Assessment of methane emissions from the U.S. oil and gas supply chain

Science. 2018 Jul 13;361(6398):186-188. doi: 10.1126/science.aar7204. Epub 2018 Jun 21.

Authors

Ramón A Alvarez¹, Daniel Zavala-Araiza², David R Lyon², David T Allen³, Zachary R Barkley⁴, Adam R Brandt⁵, Kenneth J Davis⁴, Scott C Herndon⁶, Daniel J Jacob⁷, Anna Karion⁸, Eric A Kort⁹, Brian K Lamb¹⁰, Thomas Lauvaux⁴, Joannes D Maasakkers⁷, Anthony J Marchese¹¹, Mark Omara², Stephen W Pacala¹², Jeff Peischl^{13

14}, Allen L Robinson¹⁵, Paul B Shepson¹⁶, Colm Sweeney¹⁴, Amy Townsend-Small¹⁷, Steven C Wofsy⁷, Steven P Hamburg²

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Defense Fund, Austin, TX, USA. [email protected].
² Environmental Defense Fund, Austin, TX, USA.
³ University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
⁴ The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA.
⁵ Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
⁶ Aerodyne Research Inc., Billerica, MA, USA.
⁷ Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
⁸ National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA.
⁹ University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
¹⁰ Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA.
¹¹ Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
¹² Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
¹³ University of Colorado, CIRES, Boulder, CO, USA.
¹⁴ NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA.
¹⁵ Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
¹⁶ Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA.
¹⁷ University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA.

Abstract

Methane emissions from the U.S. oil and natural gas supply chain were estimated by using ground-based, facility-scale measurements and validated with aircraft observations in areas accounting for ~30% of U.S. gas production. When scaled up nationally, our facility-based estimate of 2015 supply chain emissions is 13 ± 2 teragrams per year, equivalent to 2.3% of gross U.S. gas production. This value is ~60% higher than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency inventory estimate, likely because existing inventory methods miss emissions released during abnormal operating conditions. Methane emissions of this magnitude, per unit of natural gas consumed, produce radiative forcing over a 20-year time horizon comparable to the CO₂ from natural gas combustion. Substantial emission reductions are feasible through rapid detection of the root causes of high emissions and deployment of less failure-prone systems.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Grants and funding

9999-NIST/Intramural NIST DOC/United States