Environment & Energy

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"In the 75,000-square-mile (194-square-kilometer) Permian Basin straddling Texas and New Mexico, the most productive oil and gas region in the world, huge amounts of the powerful greenhouse gas escape from wells, compressor stations and other equipment.

Most efforts to reduce emissions have focused on so-called “super emitters” like the one in the satellite image, which are relatively easy to find with improving satellite imaging and other aerial sensing.

Now researchers say much smaller sources are collectively responsible for about 72% of methane emissions from oil and gas fields throughout the contiguous U.S. These have often gone undetected.

“It’s really (important to) approach the problem from both ends because the high-emitting super emitters are important, but so are the smaller ones,” said James Williams, a post-doctoral science fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund and lead author on a new study that took a comprehensive look at emissions within the nation’s oil and gas basins. "
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Source: https://apnews.com/article/methane-gas-texas-permian-basin-satellite-climate-81b9cfea311275806c6fbf8621f821c2