Widespread Frequent Methane Emissions From the Oil and Gas Industry in the Permian Basin

Emissions of methane (CH₄) in the Permian basin (USA) have been derived for 2019 and 2020 from satellite observations of the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) using the divergence method, in combination with a data driven method to estimate the background column densities. The resulting CH₄ emission data, which have been verified using model data with known emissions, have a spatial resolution of approximately 10 km. The CH₄ emissions show moderate spatial correlation with the locations of oil and gas production and drilling activities in the Permian basin, as well as with emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO_x). Analysis of the emission maps and time series indicates that a significant fraction of methane emissions in the Permian basin is from frequent widespread emissions sources, rather than from a few infrequent very large unplanned releases, which is important considering possible CH₄ emission mitigation strategies. In addition to providing spatially resolved emissions, the divergence method also provides the total emissions of the Permian basin and its main sub-basins. The total CH₄ emission of the Permian is estimated as 3.0 ± 0.7 Tg yr⁻¹ for 2019, which agrees with other independent estimates based on TROPOMI data. For the Delaware sub-basin, it is estimated as 1.4 ± 0.3 Tg yr⁻¹ for 2019, and for the Midland sub-basin 1.2 ± 0.3 Tg yr⁻¹. In 2020 the emissions are 9% lower compared to 2019 in the entire Permian basin, and respectively 19% and 27% for the Delaware and Midland sub-basins.