A proposal to use “Isoscapes” of fugitive gases from oil and gas wells to facilitate the reduction and attribution of methane emissions and plugging of faulty wells

Canada is the third largest oil and gas producer, with over 500,000 active and inactive wells, mostly located in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). A large, undetermined fraction of Canada’s GHG emissions emanate from oil and gas infrastructure. Governments and industry are all committed to immediately reducing methane leaks to the atmosphere from surface casing vent flows (SCVF) and ground migration (GM) of both new and old wells. Methane carbon isotopic composition offers insight into the source of unwanted gas emissions. A geospatial tool would help to attribute and reduce GHG emissions from contour maps of ẟ¹³C of methane and other hydrocarbons of production, SCVF, and GM gases across the WCSB. These “Isoscapes” of production gases vary systematically, reflecting the local geology. SCVF and GM isoscapes are offset from the production ones because the SCVF most often are shallower than the target formations, and the GM gas may be oxidized in soils. The difference between the production and SCVF isoscapes can be used to attribute methane emissions from tanks and production infrastructure, compared to leaks from the wells themselves. The isoscapes directly facilitate the plugging of problem wells.  The maps are based on over 3,000 locations where we used isotope fingerprinting (i.e., Rowe & Muehlenbachs, 1999) to identify the source depth of a leak.  Regulatory measurements mandate that the leaks are sealed at their source depth, greatly adding to the cost of plugging any well. The SCVF isoscapes suggest the likely source depth of an unsampled leaking well, thus greatly simplifying its remediation. Applying such information beyond a local case study may contribute to accounting for the GH contribution from regional oil and gas activities in Canada and elsewhere.

 

 

Reference

Rowe, D., & Muehlenbachs, A. (1999). Low-temperature thermal generation of hydrocarbon gases in shallow shales. Nature, 398(6722), 61­-63.