Methane emissions from natural gas well blowout

Researchers report methane emissions from a natural gas well blowout using measurements from a satellite-based instrument. Satellite-based instruments that regularly scan the entire globe provide a means to detect and quantify methane emissions, which are challenging to measure. Sudhanshu Pandey and colleagues used atmospheric methane measurements from the satellite-based Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument to detect and quantify methane emissions from a gas well blowout in Ohio in February 2018. By comparing spatially resolved methane concentrations with atmospheric transport simulations, the authors estimated an emission rate of 120 metric tons per hour on the day of the measurements. This measure is twice the peak emission rate from the Aliso Canyon blowout in California in 2015, which was reported to be the second largest accidental methane release in the United States. Assuming that the detected emissions represent the average rate during the 20 days of methane release, the total estimated emissions would be approximately 60 kt, or a quarter of the reported annual oil and gas sector methane emissions for the entire state of Ohio. According to the authors, the results demonstrate the feasibility of using satellite remote sensing to monitor greenhouse gas emissions from unpredictable events.

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Article #19-08712: “Satellite observations reveal extreme methane leakage from a natural gas well blowout,” by Sudhanshu Pandey

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MEDIA CONTACT: Sudhanshu Pandey, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Utrecht, NETHERLANDS; tel: +31-649067967; e-mail:

[email protected]

; Jon Coifman, Environmental Defense Fund, New York, NY; tel: 212-616-1325; e-mail:

[email protected]