Regulating methane, which is leaking faster than thought

Methane has been in the news this week:

1. Methane Leaks in Natural-Gas Supply Chain Far Exceed Estimates, Study Says

“A little-noted portion of the chain of pipelines and equipment that brings natural gas from the field into power plants and homes is responsible for a surprising amount of methane emissions, according to a study published on Tuesday. Natural-gas gathering facilities, which collect from multiple wells, lose about 100 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, about eight times as much as estimates used by the Environmental Protection Agency … The newly discovered leaks, if counted in the E.P.A. inventory, would increase its entire systemwide estimate by about 25 percent.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/science/methane-leaks-in-natural-...

2. Methane Leaks May Greatly Exceed Estimates, Report Says

“A device commonly used to measure the methane that leaks from industrial sources may greatly underestimate those emissions, said an inventor of the technology that the device relies on.”

The report found that the Bacharach Hi Flow Sampler, the methane sensor in use around the world, can greatly underestimate methane levels in some situations.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/05/science/methane-leaks-may-greatly...

3. Methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas (causes more global warming) than carbon dioxide. 30 times more, by one measure. Over half of the methane released into Earth's atmosphere is anthropogenic, not natural. Within anthropogenic methane emissions, the two biggest contributors are livestock and the energy industry, and the latter is growing, because of the natural gas industry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_methane

4. E.P.A. Announces New Rules to Cut Methane Emissions

“The Obama administration on Tuesday proposed the first federal regulations requiring the nation’s oil and gas industry to cut emissions of methane as part of an expanding and increasingly aggressive effort to combat climate change. … The rules were designed to ensure that oil and gas companies reduced waste and sold more gas that would otherwise be lost, while protecting the climate and the health of the public. … The proposals — which would require drillers to stop leaks and capture lost gas even in wells intended to extract only oil — would cost the industry up to $420 million to carry out by 2025, but that there would be savings, including reduced waste, of as much as $550 million during that period, bringing a net benefit of as much as $150 million. …

The administration has set a goal of reducing methane emissions by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025. The latest proposed regulations are expected to reduce methane emissions by 20 to 30 percent. … Oil and gas companies oppose the proposals, calling them unnecessary and costly, while environmental advocacy groups say they do not go far enough because they apply mainly to new wells and not most existing ones.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/us/epa-announces-new-rules-to-cut...

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on February 18, 2016 at 5:11am

Here's a short video on dramatic melting of arctic-sea ice in recent decades (from satellite photos): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3H7zfabJk8

and photography from the ground/ice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6p8JPrDI2LU

Permalink Reply by paleface on February 18, 2016 at 6:10am

Paul thanks for the laughs.Keep the humor coming.

Permalink Reply by Booger on February 18, 2016 at 8:59am

the north pole is just greedy...stealing the heat from the south pole....they breaking records down there too.

Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on February 19, 2016 at 7:53am

2015 was the hottest year on record, worldwide. You can use this tool to see how temperatures in a city near you (database doesn't have all cities in it) compared with normal. Seattle, for example, was 5F warmer than normal last year! (Of course, abnormal weather for one year in one city or even in one country is not by itself conclusive proof of climate change, but the cumulative evidence is overwhelming.)

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/19/us/2015-year-in-weath...

Permalink Reply by Barry D on February 19, 2016 at 10:27am

Hey! Chicken Little,

The issue IS NOT climate change.

The ISSUE IS human activity having an effect.

Conclusion; human activity has very little effect, if any, on climate change.

The primary cause of climate change on our planet is SOLAR ACTIVITY!

In fact solar activity has affected the climate of the other planets in our solar system.

BTW - there is no proof that 2015 was the warmest year on record world wide.

You extremists are just cherry picking info to fit your narrative.

The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!

Permalink Reply by Thomas Malcolm Pendergast on February 20, 2016 at 12:32pm

Thank you, Paul, for keeping us here at GMS up to date on the concerns you've shared with us on man-made emissions of CO2 & CH4. 

Roughly ten years ago, I think, we began hearing about the dangers that we would face if we didn't take steps to mitigate their effects, and the sooner the better.  Thanks to you, we now know that heretofore estimates of CO2/CH4 emissions were significantly under-reported (in fact, recently, China said it under-reported CO2 emissions by about 20%!) which means that our goose is already cooked.

So all of our efforts to reduce CO2/CH4 emissions have been in vain:  even the reductions of CH4 emissions from natural gas exploration and development while production keeps climbing!

It just keeps getting worse as time goes on.  As the below news item demonstrates, Japanese shipbuilders have recently been commissioned to build 16 LNG carriers to transport U.S. natural gas to Japan.  What steps do you suggest we take to stop this madness?

Wartsila LNG engines powering Japanese carriers


Image courtesy of Wärtsilä

Image courtesy of Wärtsilä

A total of 16 new gas carrier ships being built in Japan for Japanese owners are to be powered by Wärtsilä dual-fuel engines, the Finnish company said on Wednesday.

The dual-fuel engines are capable of running on liquefied natural gas (LNG) or conventional diesel fuels. The contracts were all placed between the second half of 2014 and December 2015, Wärtsilä said.

The orders specify 20 nine-cylinder, 25 six-cylinder and 16 eight-cylinder Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines.

This total of 61 engines that will be running primarily on LNG represents a “notable expansion of Japan’s gas fuelled merchant fleet“.

These will be the first Wärtsilä 50DF engines delivered for Japan’s LNG carrier market. The first of the Wärtsilä machinery was delivered at the end of December 2015.

According to Wärtsilä, the 16 vessels have a gas cargo capacity of between 155,000 and 180,000 cubic metres. They will be employed mainly in delivering shale gas from the USA to Japan.

Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on August 30, 2016 at 7:28am

There was a short but good story on methane and global warming on the radio program Living on Earth recently. Excerpts:

"When the global warming gas methane is first emitted it’s roughly 90 times as powerful as carbon dioxide, and there’s more than twice as much of it in the atmosphere now than there was before the start of the industrial revolution. There are many sources – wetlands, agriculture, landfills, and of course oil and gas production."

“...later this year in October, the Dutch are going to be launching a new satellite instrument [Tropomi]. And that's going to provide us with a much finer picture of methane emissions, and so we'll be able to observe methane every day around the world with a resolution of about five miles. So this is going to revolutionize our ability to observe methane from space.”

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=16-P13-00035&s...

Permalink Reply by Ragnars Repo on August 30, 2016 at 1:05pm
I took a long walk down Wilshire Ave in Los Angeles today. I stumbled upon the La Brea tar pits, interesting because if you call it that you are essentially saying the the tar tar pits. Upon entrance to the park you immediately notice the smell of hydrogen sulfide and asphalt. The pits are a sight. Constantly bubbling methane gas gurgles through the thick pitch. It occurred to me that if this was the work of an oil company some would decend upon this place like asphalt covering a driveway. Screaming to the hills about the amount of escaping methane gas and heavy oil coating everything. Since it belongs to the State they put a fence around it and charge $15 bucks to go in the museum. You can inhale all the methane and hydrogen sulfide gas on the house.
Breathe deep and enjoy.
Permalink Reply by Barry D on August 30, 2016 at 2:06pm

RR,

As a typical liberal enviro leftist anti oil and gas oerson (Iuse the person term loosely), Paul as usual only presents a portion of the story and facts.

As you point out the earth itself is the largest emitter of methane world wide.

In the U.S., Paul would have you believe that the oil and gas industry emitted the most methane, Not even close. Agriculture and plant decomposition beat out oil and gas by ten times or more.

The other point that Paul fails to include in his disinformation campaign is that fugitive methane emissions, from oil and gas activities, are declining. This according to EPA studies, along with others.

Thanks for the post.

Permalink Reply by Paul Heckbert on July 3, 2017 at 2:21pm

"Dealing another legal blow to the Trump administration, a federal appeals court ruled on Monday that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot suspend an Obama-era rule to restrict methane emissions from new oil and gas wells.

The 2-to-1 decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is the first major legal setback for Scott Pruitt, the E.P.A. administrator, who is trying to roll back dozens of Obama-era environmental regulations. The ruling signals that President Trump’s plans to erase his predecessor’s environmental record are likely to face an uphill battle in the courts."

source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/03/climate/court-blocks-epa-effort-...

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