Permian methane emissions double official figure

Hot on the heels of a story that methane emissions from coal mining are twice as high as previously thought, come this story about emissions from fracking in the Permian basis in the USA.

From Climate News Network.

Methane emissions from the Permian basin of West Texas and southeastern New Mexico, one of the largest oil-producing regions in the world, are more than twice as high as US federal estimates, a new study suggests.

The findings, published recently in the journal Science Advances, reaffirm the results of a recently released assessment and further call into question the climate benefits of natural gas.

Using hydraulic fracturing, energy companies have increased oil production to unprecedented levels in the Permian basin in recent years.  Methane, or natural gas, has historically been viewed as an unwanted byproduct to be flared, a practice in which methane is burned instead of emitted into the atmosphere, or vented by oil producers in the region.

While new natural gas pipelines are being built to bring the gas to market, pipeline capacity and the low price of natural gas has created little incentive to reduce methane emissions.

Daniel Jacob, a professor of atmospheric chemistry and environmental engineering at Harvard University and a co-author of the study, said methane emissions in the Permian are “the largest source ever observed in an oil and gas field.”

He added, “There has been a big ramp up in oil production in that region and when you don’t care too much about recovering the natural gas, it makes for a large emission.”

Other related stories:

Methane emissions vastly underestimated

Giant Exxon methane leak

Fracking leads to methane spike in atmosphere

Jump in methane levels

Source: Methane Levels