Progress Toward a First Measurement-Based Oil and Gas Sector Methane Inventory for Colombia

Methane is a critical focus of international efforts to achieve short-term reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  Oil and gas and waste sector methane sources are understood to be the easiest and fastest to mitigate, but require robust measurement-based emissions inventory protocols to identify sources, to prioritize mitigation actions, and to track success or failure in reducing emissions.  In particular, the complexity and variability of oil and gas sector sources necessitates combining measurements and data at different scales to accurately define the full distribution of emissions.  This presentation describes the use of a hybrid, top-down / bottom-up inventory protocol to inform Colombia’s national methane inventories.  The top-down campaign conducted between March and May 2024, comprised aerial LiDAR measurements at 3,826 oil and gas sector sites across 6 different production regions as well as measurements at three landfills.  A separate bottom-up campaign is currently scheduled for the first quarter of 2025 and will include OGI surveys at approximately 320 sites, along with targeted measurements of select tanks, compressor engines and flares at a subset of 20 sites.  Preliminary results from the top-down approach for both oil and gas and waste sectors will be discussed during the presentation, along with progress toward completing Colombia’s first-ever measurement-based methane inventory for the oil and gas upstream sector.  This study, funded by UNEP - International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) is intended to support MMRV development and verified reporting under the International Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP 2.0).