Methane emissions from abandoned wells? A German case study

Methane recently became the focus of attention as the target to slow global warming in the near future. Hence, measures to reduce anthropogenic methane emission are globally discussed and researchers test methods to actively reduce atmospheric methane levels. Complicating advancement in this field, there are still high uncertainties associated with methane sources and sinks. One example is the methane emission from abandoned oil and gas wells. The USA, with about 4,000,000 abandoned wells, is the only country worldwide to include emissions from these wells in their yearly greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Studies estimated that these emissions account for about 1–13% of the U.S. energy sector (Williams et al. 2021). In addition to the USA, only a few countries like Canada, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands collected data on methane emissions from abandoned gas wells. Currently Germany has about 20,000 abandoned wells (formerly productive and dry wells) of different ages, which were generally filled and buried and since 1950s officially have to be plugged, cut, and buried at the end of their lifecycle. It is unclear, whether they are emitting methane or not.

Here, we present our project to fill this knowledge gap for Germany and focus on onshore-abandoned oil & gas wells and their potential to emit methane. Therefore, we will measure soil-atmosphere methane fluxes at several abandoned wells exemplary in four regions of Lower Saxony (Federal State in Northern Germany). In case of methane emission to the atmosphere, we will determine the origin of the methane in soil gas at 1 m depth by isotopic analyses. In addition to these analyses in the direct vicinity of the boreholes, we will investigate the surrounding natural methane situation in groundwater and soil with the help of molecular-geomicrobiological methods and determinations of methane oxidation rates.

 

 

Williams, J. P., Regehr, A., & Kang, M. (2021). Methane Emissions from Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells in Canada and the United States. Environ Sci Technol, 55(1), 563-570. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c04265