https://www.princeton.edu/news/2019/08/15/offshore-oil-and-gas-rigs-leak-more-greenhouse-gas-expected
[Amazing how an industry that can consistently overestimate the value of
its 'proven reserves' can so reliably underestimate the size of its
spills and how much GHG emissions it creates. Almost like they are
trying to game the system, which they would never do as responsible
corporate citizens. Well, except perhaps for setting retail prices for
gasoline, diesel and heating oil. Or underestimating the value of
subsidies they receive from taxpayers. Or underfund clean-up trust
accounts ...]
Offshore oil and gas rigs leak more greenhouse gas than expected
John Sullivan, Office of Engineering Communications
Aug. 15, 2019 9:49 a.m.
A survey of offshore installations extracting oil and natural gas in the
North Sea revealed far more leakage of methane, a powerful greenhouse
gas, than currently estimated by the British government, according to a
research team led by scientists from Princeton University.
Using a laser-based instrument mounted on small fishing boats, the
researchers estimated methane emissions from eight North Sea production
platforms off the coasts of England and Scotland. Contrary to current
expectations, they found that all the sampled offshore installations
leaked even when they were not conducting operations expected to cause
methane emissions. On average, methane leakage occurring during normal
operations more than doubles each installations’ reported emissions to
the U.K.’s National Atmospheric Emission Inventory.
In an article published Aug. 2 in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and
Physics, the researchers noted that previously reported leakage from
operating oil and gas platforms appear low: 0.13% of production by U.K.
government estimates. However, the researchers found that an additional
0.19% occurred during normal operations. For the U.K., this additional
0.19% corresponds to an additional 330,000 cars on the road (an increase
of 1% in registered U.K. vehicles), the researchers said.
The large number of offshore platforms around the globe make careful
measurement and analysis of leakage critical for global emissions
inventories and for mitigating climate change, the researchers said.
Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is both a greenhouse gas
and a contributor to smog. The amount of methane in the atmosphere has
roughly doubled since 1850, mostly due to human activity. Until now, the
researchers said, offshore rigs have essentially been viewed as nearly
100% efficient, with no leakage of methane except during certain actions
including releasing gas to control pressure inside wells or moving oil
from rigs to ships. In the United Kingdom, for example, petroleum
companies estimate leakage based on these actions and report the totals
annually to the British government.
The researchers said the most recent findings raise concern that
policymakers might not be receiving accurate estimates for methane
leakage from off-shore oil and gas rigs.
“As the world attempts to rapidly decarbonize the energy system, care
must be taken to minimize unnecessary natural gas leakage from the
production process during the transition away from fossil fuels,” said
Denise Mauzerall, professor of civil and environmental engineering and
public and international affairs at Princeton and the principle
investigator for the project. “Our concern about this leakage led us to
expand our work from conventional and abandoned wells in the United
States to offshore oil and gas rigs in the North Sea.”
In summer 2017, Princeton researcher Stuart Riddick used a 30-foot sport
fishing boat as a platform to measure methane emissions from North Sea
offshore oil and gas installations. Riddick, an associate research
scholar in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
collected methane concentration data using a laser-based analyzer and
mounted sensors on the boat to measure local weather conditions. The
small boat circled outside the 500-meter exclusion zone around each
site, sometimes avoiding service boats curious about the researchers’
purpose.
The researchers used readings from the analyzer, plus data on
meteorological conditions, to estimate the amount of methane leaking
from the rigs and to calculate average loss based on the rigs’
production. When they compared those numbers to the official estimates,
they realized there was substantial leakage that was not included in the
official estimates. Riddick said the .19 % was a conservative estimate
and the actual leakage could be greater.
Riddick said the work demonstrates a method of directly monitoring leaks
from offshore installations that could be used by industry and
government. Policymakers, he added, could use a similar approach to more
accurately assess total emissions from production sources, and the
industry could also benefit from the technology.
“It was my hope that this study would change the way that the oil and
gas industry views offshore installations and facilitate the development
of new ways to reduce emissions,” Riddick said. With the experiment, he
said, “we have shown that offshore methane emissions can be estimated
when an installation is considered as a point source. Our work provides
a method for estimating how much natural gas offshore oil rigs emit in
remote parts of the globe. We hope this method can be used as a
diagnostic tool by the oil and gas industry and regulators to actively
measure emissions to identify leaks, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and
improve company profits.”
Besides Mauzerall and Riddick, the authors of the paper include: Michael
Celia, Princeton’s Theodora Shelton Pitney Professor of Environmental
Studies; Professor Grant Allen, University of Manchester; Grant Forster,
University of East Anglia; Professor Neil Harris, Cranfield University;
Professor Mary Kang, McGill University; David Lowry, Royal Holloway,
University of London; Alistair Manning, U.K. Met Office; Professor Euan
Nisbet, Royal Holloway, University of London; Joseph Pitt, University of
Manchester; and John Staunton-Sykes, University of Cambridge.
Support for the research was provided in part by the U.S. National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.K. Natural Environment
Research Council.
=====================================
To subscribe, unsubscribe, turn vacation mode on or off,
or carry out other user-actions for this list, visit
https://www.freelists.org/list/keiths-list
Note: new climate change website is now in pre-launch
Visit https://www.10n10.ca/e/index.shtml