Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that warms over 80 times faster than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. Methane-emitting industries contribute a quarter of total global emissions, with the oil and gas industry the largest emitter. Limiting the rise in global temperature requires reducing methane emissions.
Methane is the ‘silent challenge’ however, methane leaks can often go undetected. The emissions are difficult to detect and mitigate, and need advanced monitoring technology and significant investment. As scrutiny of the oil and gas industry intensifies, companies must act now to address methane leaks, or face regulatory crackdowns, lawsuits and reputational damage.
The Scale of the Methane Problem
The oil and gas supply chain provides multiple opportunities for methane emissions through normal operations, routine maintenance, and accidental leaks. Sources include production wells, gathering facilities, processing plants, pipelines, and storage tanks. The International Energy Agency estimates the industry emitted over 570 million tonnes of methane in 2020.
Recent studies using satellite monitoring suggest these official estimates severely undercount real-world emissions. Critics argue that systemic underreporting hides the true scale of the industry’s methane footprint.
Effective emission management services are crucial in addressing these challenges, particularly for tackling emissions from the “super-emitter” sites. These account for 50% of leaks but represent only 5% of facilities. The unpredictable variability of these sites across regions, combined with their shifting nature over time, underscores the complexity of achieving reliable detection and mitigation.
The Damages of Methane Leaks
Although methane remains in the atmosphere for much less time than CO2, it is over 80 times more powerful at trapping heat in the short term. Over 20 years, a single ton of leaked methane causes 84 times more warming than a ton of CO2. This intense near-term warming compounds climate change threats.
Methane leaks also represent lost profits as saleable product escapes into the air. The International Energy Agency estimates the industry could recover 75 billion cubic meters of methane in 2030, equivalent to all of Europe’s gas imports from Russia. Capturing this wasted methane would generate $27 billion annually if sold at today’s EU benchmark prices.
Finally, methane leaks contribute to local air pollution, impacting nearby communities. Leaked methane reacts with sunlight and other chemicals to produce ground-level ozone, the key component of urban smog. Estimates suggest oil and gas methane emissions cause 750,000 summertime asthma attacks worldwide each year.
Regulatory and Legal Challenges
With evidence mounting on methane’s climate and health damages, the oil and gas industry faces increasing pressure to address leaks. New regulations at multiple levels of government look likely over the coming decade.
In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency recently announced proposals to expand methane monitoring and repair requirements nationally for new and existing oil and gas infrastructure. The European Union is also implementing stricter methane regulations across its 27 member countries to meet its goal of reducing methane emissions by 30% by 2030.
If regulations fail to curb emissions, lawsuits present a growing financial threat. Several cities, states and territories have ongoing cases against major oil and gas companies related to climate damages caused by products like methane. For example, fossil fuel giants like BP, Chevron, Eni, ExxonMobil, Shell, and TotalEnergies are facing at least 86 climate lawsuits.
Reputational fallout also lurks if firms fail to show progress. Investors may re-evaluate holdings in companies without credible methane reduction plans, while educated consumers increasingly factor in emissions profiles when making energy purchasing decisions.
Detection Challenges
Accurate emissions quantification is the foundation of any methane reduction strategy. However, persistent measurement and monitoring gaps undermine robust estimates.
The dispersed and intermittent nature of leaks confounds detection. With millions of oil and gas wells globally, inspecting every site continuously is impossible. Instead, bottom-up inventories rely on self-reported data and sporadic direct sampling that likely miss unpredictable large emission events. Some top-down methods, like satellites, cover wider areas but generate less precise source attribution.
These data barriers allow “silent” leaks to slip through unnoticed. One 2022 aerial survey found a single massive methane plume in Turkmenistan that had gone unreported for years, emitting more methane than the oil industries of France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and the UK combined.
Advancing Monitoring Technologies
Improving measurement requires new technologies paired with systematic monitoring policies. Drones and aircraft equipped with methane sensors offer frequent wide-area high-resolution data superior to sporadic manual sampling. Cloud computing now also facilitates rapid processing of massive datasets.
Satellite platforms like GHGSat can spot extreme emissions events from oil and gas infrastructure and enable rapid response to the largest leaks. Still, despite resolution improvements, satellite views remain unable to trace releases back to specific pieces of equipment.
Top-down observations and 24/7 monitoring across facilities are complemented by ground-based sensor networks that are cheaper and more portable. Laser-based detectors are now competitive with parts per billion sensitivity. The sensors are equipped to sites to provide continuous monitoring for swift leak identification.
Digitization also enables centralized virtual pipeline control rooms to track emissions across assets in real time. Machine learning algorithms can learn typical facility emission signatures and trigger alerts when abnormal levels occur. Integrating methane measurement technologies with cloud analytics and computing may overcome persistent monitoring blind spots.
Mitigation and Reduction Strategies
Oil and gas companies must implement methane reduction activities in addition to detection if they hope to decarbonize. Multiple proven remedies with rapid payback periods already exist.
Installing equipment like vapor recovery units on storage tanks, improving compressor rod packing systems, and updating pneumatic devices to use instrument air instead of leaked methane deliver some of the most cost-effective options. Leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs also pay for themselves through recovered product sales.
A more significant infrastructure overhaul represents a heavier lift but enables large emission cuts. Replacing leaky distribution pipelines allows modern welding and construction techniques to prevent methane from escaping through cracks and faults in aging lines.
Ultimately, the incentive to invest rests on accurate emissions data. Recent studies suggest current monitoring methods severely underestimate volumes, distorting assessments about reduction priorities and cost efficiencies. Better emission quantification would provide the business case for companies to act.
Industry Collaboration
Delivering comprehensive measurements and reductions requires coordinated action across the oil and gas industry. No single firm can address the problem alone.
Groups like the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) gather leading companies to develop measurement standards and promote best practices. The partnership now includes over 50 major industry players responsible for 30% of global oil and gas production. These forums aim to raise minimum expectations while allowing top performers to demonstrate climate leadership.
Some partnerships also include groups beyond individual firms. The US EPA’s Natural Gas STAR Methane Challenge brings together oil and gas companies with local distribution utilities and renewable natural gas producers to accelerate emission-cutting efforts.
While encouraging, these voluntary initiatives alone seem unlikely to spur economy-wide change at the pace scientists emphasize is needed. More binding national and regional policy measures will likely be necessary to guarantee broad industry methane accounting and reductions.
Conclusion
The oil and gas industry’s silent challenge of methane emissions continues. Such drastic cuts need to happen immediately and are urgently needed. A starting point for guiding mitigation priorities is a clear-eyed assessment of the true scale and drivers of leaks.
Fortunately, scalable technology solutions now exist to improve detection and facilitate repair. Industry collaborations also show the potential to propagate best practices. But time is running short. Without strong government action backed by accurate emissions data, the danger of methane’s warming accelerating global temperature rise remains unseen but very real. Leadership must come immediately from both policymakers and individual firms if the oil and gas industry hopes to meet this silent challenge.