Shipboard measurements of offshore oil and gas facilities were conducted in the Gulf of Mexico in February 2018. Species measured at 1 s include methane, ethane, carbon-13 (13C) and deuterium (D)...
Methane is a greenhouse gas many times more powerful at warming the atmosphere than carbon dioxide. However, relatively little is known about emissions from one of its largest man-made sources, the oil and gas industry.
The International Energy Agency has noted that “the potential for natural gas to play a credible role in the transition to a decarbonized energy system fundamentally depends on minimizing methane emissions, particularly outside the U.S.”
Most of what we do know concerns methane emissions in the United States, where oil and gas production is booming and where EDF carried out 16 studies in cooperation with the industry that led to 28 peer-reviewed papers on US emissions. Outside the US, however, emission estimates are less certain. The new studies will help refine the global estimates that do exist while improving national estimates.