UK Has Five Times More Methane Leaked From Oil and Gas Productions

Scientists created a novel, more precise technique for measuring methane emissions from offshore oil and gas production, implying that the United Kingdom significantly understated its greenhouse gas emissions.

Researchers found that oil and gas production leaks were up to five times more methane than previously acknowledged.

UK substantially underestimates its methane emissions

(Photo : FETHI BELAID/AFP via Getty Images)

Oil and gas production and transport are major producers of methane in the atmosphere, as per ScienceDaily.

Countries are required to report their greenhouse gas emissions to international bodies such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but recent research indicated that current methods for calculating methane emissions rely on outdated and incomplete data, and may not accurately represent actual emissions.

According to a new study conducted by Princeton and Colorado State University researchers, the present approach for calculating methane emissions from offshore oil and gas production in the United Kingdom routinely and drastically understates emissions.

According to the study, oil and gas production in the UK emitted up to five times more methane than the government reports.

The researchers arrived at this result after rigorously examining the United Kingdom's present technique of measuring methane emissions, proposing alternative, peer-reviewed approaches, and generating revised emission estimates.

Because many other nations use comparable approaches to measure methane emissions from oil and gas extraction, the UK's substantial underestimating is most certainly not unique.

Methane mitigation has lately been a worldwide policy priority due to its climatic and indirect health implications (methane is a precursor for ozone, an atmospheric pollutant that harms human health and agriculture).

Reduced methane emissions are one of the most effective strategies to limit the rate of climate change due to their relatively short lifespan of roughly 12 years and significant heat-trapping capabilities per molecule.

As a result, governments joined the Global Methane Pledge in 2021, pledging to cut methane emissions by at least 30% below 2020 levels by 2030.

Countries gather national emissions data into inventories, such as the United Kingdom's National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI), which are subsequently submitted to international monitoring agencies to measure progress.

This research focuses on methane leaks connected with oil and gas exploration, extraction, and production.

These methane emissions are typically calculated by multiplying the activity level of various processes - specifically, venting, flaring, processing and combustion activities on production platforms, offshore oil loading, and gas transfer via high-pressure pipelines - by "emission factors," which are standard estimates of the methane emissions associated with each activity.

The researchers discovered that the emissions variables used in UK reporting are either out of date, rely on unpublished or publicly unavailable industry studies, or utilize generic IPCC estimated.

Furthermore, these emission parameters are often "static," which means they are not affected by factors like environmental conditions or management methods, which might alter emissions from various operations.

Moreover, leakage can occur when the offshore rigs are inactive - an "activity" that presently does not have a related emission factor.

Previous research has shown that minimizing leakage throughout the oil and natural gas supply chain may help to achieve climate and air quality goals while also being economically advantageous - a win-win situation for industry and the environment.

This work adds to a growing body of evidence that current estimates of anthropogenic methane emissions are excessively low.

With the world's first "global stocktake" on progress toward implementing the Paris Agreement set to conclude in 2023, the researchers suggest that improved emission assessment warrants immediate attention.

Also Read: A Massive New Source of Greenhouse Gases is Rapidly Warming Up the Planet

What's all the fuss about methane?

Methane is the principal contributor to the creation of ground-level ozone, a dangerous air pollutant and greenhouse gas that causes one million premature deaths each year.

Methane is another potent greenhouse gas.

It is 80 times more effective than carbon dioxide at warming during a 20-year period.

Methane has been responsible for around 30% of global warming since pre-industrial times and is spreading faster than at any previous time since records began in the 1980s.

Indeed, even while carbon dioxide emissions slowed during the pandemic-related lockdowns of 2020, atmospheric methane increased, according to United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration statistics.

According to UNEP Food Systems and Agriculture Advisor James Lomax, the world must begin by "rethinking our approaches to agricultural cultivation and livestock production," which involves harnessing new technologies, turning toward plant-rich diets, and embracing alternate protein sources.

According to Lomax, this will be critical if mankind is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming to 1.5°C, as set by the Paris climate pact.

Farmers may give their animals more nutritional feed, resulting in bigger, healthier, and more productive animals, thus producing more with less.

Scientists are also working with different types of feed to minimize methane emissions from cows and strategies to handle dung more efficiently, such as covering it, composting it, or utilizing it to make biogas.

Experts advocate alternate soaking and drying methods for staple crops such as paddy rice, which may cut emissions in half.

Instead of permitting continuous flooding of fields, paddies might be watered and drained two to three times during the growing season, minimizing methane generation while not affecting productivity.

This technique would also use one-third less water, making it more cost-effective.

Related article: NASA Cancels Climate Change Satellite to Prioritize Monitoring Greenhouse Gases