Satellite Derived CH4 and NOx Emissions from the Oil and Gas Industry in the Permian Basin in the U.S.A.
- 1Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute KNMI, De Bilt, The Netherlands
- 2Department of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands
- 3Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, U.S.A.
- 4Department of Chemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, U.S.A.
- 5NCAR Atmospheric Chemistry Observations & Modeling Laboratory, Boulder, U.S.A.
The Permian basin is the largest oil and gas production region in the U.S.A. Because of the non-conventional exploration of the basin, the region is covered with hundreds of small production facilities. Observations from the surface and from aircrafts have shown that there are continuous emissions of amongst others CH4 and NOx. Although they come from the same facilities, the sources of CH4 and NOx differ: NOx is predominantly produced by engines and generators used for drilling and to run the facilities, whereas CH4 is produced from planned and accidental releases from the production, storage and transportation of oil and gas. The TROPOMI satellite instrument allows continuous monitoring of CH4 and NO2 and has confirmed the large contribution of the oil and gas industry to the CH4 and NO2 concentrations in the Permian basin.
Using the divergence method, we have derived emissions for both CH4 and NO2 from the TROPOMI data, with a high spatial resolution of better than 5x5 km2 for NO2 and better than 10x10 km2 for CH4. The results show that the Permian CH4 emissions in the basin are not dominated by a few large emission events, but are also impacted by many smaller releases across the basin. The basin can therefore be seen as a large area source that varies in space and time. Mitigation of these releases is challenging, rather than solving a few large leaks in a few facilities, the equipment and management of many small sites have to be improved to reduce emissions.
In this contribution we present results of the emission retrievals. Using CAMS model data, we show the potential of the divergence method and its sensitivity. Analyses will be presented of the TROPOMI derived emissions, showing the spatial variability of CH4 and NOx emissions over the region and their relation to the underlying oil and gas production and drilling activities.
How to cite: Veefkind, P., Serrano Calvo, R., Dix, B., Liu, M., van der A, R., de Gouw, J., and Levelt, P.: Satellite Derived CH4 and NOx Emissions from the Oil and Gas Industry in the Permian Basin in the U.S.A., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9372, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9372, 2022.
