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Naus S, Maasakkers JD, Gautam R, Omara M, Stikker R, Veenstra AK, Nathan B, Irakulis-Loitxate I, Guanter L, Pandey S, Girard M, Lorente A, Borsdorff T, Aben I. Assessing the Relative Importance of Satellite-Detected Methane Superemitters in Quantifying Total Emissions for Oil and Gas Production Areas in Algeria. Environ Sci Technol 2023; 57:19545-19556. [PMID: 37956986 DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.3c04746] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2023]
Abstract
Methane emissions from oil and gas production provide an important contribution to global warming. We investigate 2020 emissions from the largest gas field in Algeria, Hassi R'Mel, and the oil-production-dominated area Hassi Messaoud. We use methane data from the high-resolution (20 m) Sentinel-2 instruments to identify and estimate emission time series for 11 superemitters (including 10 unlit flares). We integrate this information in a transport model inversion that uses methane data from the coarser (7 km × 5.5 km) but higher-precision TROPOMI instrument to estimate emissions from both the 11 superemitters (>1 t/h individually) and the remaining diffuse area source (not detected as point sources with Sentinel-2). Compared to a bottom-up inventory for 2019 that is aligned with UNFCCC-reported emissions, we find that 2020 emissions in Hassi R'Mel (0.16 [0.11-0.22] Tg/yr) are lower by 53 [24-73]%, and emissions in Hassi Messaoud (0.22 [0.13-0.28] Tg/yr) are higher by 79 [4-188]%. Our analysis indicates that a larger fraction of Algeria's methane emissions (∼75%) come from oil production than national reporting suggests (5%). Although in both regions the diffuse area source constitutes the majority of emissions, relatively few satellite-detected superemitters provide a significant contribution (24 [12-40]% in Hassi R'Mel; 49 [27-71]% in Hassi Messaoud), indicating that mitigation efforts should address both. Our synergistic use of Sentinel-2 and TROPOMI can produce a unique and detailed emission characterization of oil and gas production areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Naus
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
| | - J D Maasakkers
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
| | - R Gautam
- Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, District of Columbia 20009, United States
| | - M Omara
- Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, District of Columbia 20009, United States
| | - R Stikker
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
| | - A K Veenstra
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
| | - B Nathan
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
| | - I Irakulis-Loitxate
- Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia (UPV), Valencia 46022, Spain
- International Methane Emission Observatory, United Nations Environment Program, Paris 75015, France
| | - L Guanter
- Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, District of Columbia 20009, United States
- Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia (UPV), Valencia 46022, Spain
| | - S Pandey
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91011, United States
| | - M Girard
- GHGSat Inc., Montréal H2W 1Y5, Canada
| | - A Lorente
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
- Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, District of Columbia 20009, United States
| | - T Borsdorff
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
| | - I Aben
- SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Leiden 3584 CA, Netherlands
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