Last June, a team of Spanish scientists from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, using a European Space Agency satellite, detected a huge methane leak on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. According to published results, in December 2021, the rig released 40,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere during a 17-day “ultra emissions event.”
This one-off incident, the result of an anomalous flaring process, emitted the equivalent of 3.3 million tons of carbon dioxide, or about 3% of Mexico’s total annual carbon dioxide emissions. The plant’s owner, Mexican government-operated Pemex, disputed the findings, telling the Associated Press that the amount of methane released was only 2,224 tons. The AP report noted that this would still be a large amount for a single emission event.
In any case, similarly sized methane leaks known as “super emitter events” are being found around the world thanks to satellite and imaging equipment that either didn’t exist or were difficult to access a decade ago. According to the International Energy Agency, satellites have detected more than 500 in the past year. This has prompted some researchers to optimize their climate modeling and reconsider the value of natural gas as a climate solution.
The LSU Energy Law Center on Wednesday hosted a panel of climate and energy industry experts who discussed the latest technologies and solutions to combat methane leaks.
Methane is found at virtually every oil well as it is a natural by-product of oil production. However, much of it is wasted.
Compared to carbon dioxide, methane causes much more damage in the atmosphere in the short term. According to the United Nations, it traps over 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period and is responsible for more than 25% of the atmospheric warming experienced by the earth today.
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Panel member Audrey Mascarenhas, a chemical engineer who spent 35 years in the oil industry before starting her own company Questor Technology, said many oil companies won’t produce and sell the gas because either it’s not economical or they don’t have the capital available to invest in gas pipelines and equipment. Instead, they simply waste the gas by venting and flaring it, Mascarenhas said.
Around 260 billion cubic meters of methane are currently lost to the atmosphere every year through oil and gas production. According to the International Energy Agency, three quarters of this could be preserved and brought to market with existing technologies. The methane captured would be more than the European Union’s total annual gas imports from Russia before invading Ukraine.
A growing body of research suggests that methane pollution from offshore oil is underestimated
In 2019, oil and gas operators in Louisiana reported that 5.1 billion cubic feet of methane was wasted from venting and flaring, according to the US Energy Information Administration. That is roughly enough to supply around 121,000 households with electricity for a whole year.
It’s unclear how much more is wasted through leaking valves, poorly sealed pipe threads and abandoned wells, but researchers have found numerous methane plumes rising from offshore oil rigs. Methane is colorless and odorless and must be detected by expensive infrared imaging equipment or satellites.
The Louisiana Department of Natural Resources has proposed a new regulation that would ban the routine venting and flaring of methane from production facilities.
Isaac Brown, executive director of the Center for Methane Emissions Solutions, said such regulations have created new jobs in the energy sector.
Danny Johns, environmental manager at ExxonMobil, said his company has employees constantly checking for methane leaks.
If regulations are flexible enough, Brown said, they can encourage the creation of companies that can provide infrared inspection services. While a company the size of ExxonMobil can afford to buy a $100,000 infrared camera, smaller oil companies can hire an inspection company for a few hundred dollars, he said.
Mascarenhas Questor technology offers patented equipment that converts methane into carbon dioxide.
It might sound counterintuitive at first, but turning the methane into carbon dioxide is better than letting the more harmful methane escape, she said. The carbon dioxide can also be captured if the goal is zero emissions.
“What determines how people use our technology is what the rules say,” Mascarenhas said, referring to environmental regulations. “Companies will always do what is necessary.”
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