Metering of the Oil and Natural Gas System Emissions using Aerial Site Measurement (Published)
Aerial methane surveys of oil and natural gas systems have discovered large emissions, which are missing or vastly undercounted in official estimates. We integrate approximately one million aerial site measurements into regional emissions inventories, employing empirically grounded emissions simulations to estimate small emissions. We infer emissions inventories for six regions in the United States comprising 52% of onshore oil and 29% of gas production over fifteen aerial campaigns. Total estimated emissions range from 9.63% [9.03%, 10.37%] of natural gas production, roughly nine times the US government estimate, to 0.75% [0.65%, 0.85%] in a high-productivity gas-rich region. Aerially measured emissions at 0.05%-1.44% of well sites contribute 50%-81% of total emissions in twelve of fifteen campaigns. The social cost of methane emissions from these measured regions is roughly $9.4 billion per year, in addition to roughly $1 billion in lost sales. This highlights the importance of incorporating comprehensive remote sensing surveys into emissions inventories and efforts to benchmark and reduce methane emissions.
Keywords: aerial site measurement, emissions, metering, natural gas system, oil