Onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry: a scoping review
Research on methane (CH _4 ) emissions from the oil and gas (O&G) industry informs policies, regulations, and international initiatives that target reductions. However, there has been little integration and synthesis of the literature to document the state of knowledge, identify gaps, and determ...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2024-01-01
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| Series: | Environmental Research Communications |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ad3129 |
| _version_ | 1827315084151488512 |
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| author | Coleman Vollrath Chris H Hugenholtz Thomas E Barchyn |
| author_facet | Coleman Vollrath Chris H Hugenholtz Thomas E Barchyn |
| author_sort | Coleman Vollrath |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Research on methane (CH _4 ) emissions from the oil and gas (O&G) industry informs policies, regulations, and international initiatives that target reductions. However, there has been little integration and synthesis of the literature to document the state of knowledge, identify gaps, and determine key insights that can guide research priorities and mitigation. To address this, we performed a scoping review of 237 English-language peer-reviewed articles on CH _4 emissions from onshore O&G sources, charting data on five research themes: publication trends, geography, measurement levels and methods, emissions sources, and emissions rates. Almost all articles (98%) were published between 2012 and 2022 with an increasing publication rate, indicating a nascent and evolving understanding of the science. Most articles (72%) focused on CH _4 emissions from the U.S. O&G industry and were written by U.S.-based authors (69%), while other major O&G-producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China were under-represented. Upstream was the most frequently studied supply chain segment, where U.S.-focused articles accounted for 75% of the research. Nearly half the articles (43%) included in the review reported site-level measurements, limiting the identification of equipment- and component-level emissions sources and root cause. Articles that measured or identified equipment-level sources (18%) noted high emissions from tanks, unlit flares, and compressors. The most common stand-off measurement platforms were vehicles and aircraft, while the use of satellites increased in articles published since 2019. Reported emissions profiles were consistently heavy-tailed and indicate method-based and geographic differences in magnitude and skew. All articles (n = 26) that compared inventory- to measurement-based estimates of emissions found large discrepancies in that inventories under-estimated the latter by a factor of 1.2–10 times. We recommend future research focus on: (i) field-based emissions studies for under-represented regions and source categories, (ii) identifying root causes and linking measurements to mitigation, and (iii) multi-level measurement integration. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T22:47:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-687b3c816cec47b58595db8f81eae59e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2515-7620 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T22:47:52Z |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Environmental Research Communications |
| spelling | doaj.art-687b3c816cec47b58595db8f81eae59e2024-03-18T11:09:28ZengIOP PublishingEnvironmental Research Communications2515-76202024-01-016303200110.1088/2515-7620/ad3129Onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry: a scoping reviewColeman Vollrath0https://orcid.org/0009-0009-9731-2003Chris H Hugenholtz1Thomas E Barchyn2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0489-9263Centre for Smart Emissions Sensing Technologies, Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Alberta, CanadaCentre for Smart Emissions Sensing Technologies, Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Alberta, CanadaCentre for Smart Emissions Sensing Technologies, Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Alberta, CanadaResearch on methane (CH _4 ) emissions from the oil and gas (O&G) industry informs policies, regulations, and international initiatives that target reductions. However, there has been little integration and synthesis of the literature to document the state of knowledge, identify gaps, and determine key insights that can guide research priorities and mitigation. To address this, we performed a scoping review of 237 English-language peer-reviewed articles on CH _4 emissions from onshore O&G sources, charting data on five research themes: publication trends, geography, measurement levels and methods, emissions sources, and emissions rates. Almost all articles (98%) were published between 2012 and 2022 with an increasing publication rate, indicating a nascent and evolving understanding of the science. Most articles (72%) focused on CH _4 emissions from the U.S. O&G industry and were written by U.S.-based authors (69%), while other major O&G-producing countries like Saudi Arabia, Russia, and China were under-represented. Upstream was the most frequently studied supply chain segment, where U.S.-focused articles accounted for 75% of the research. Nearly half the articles (43%) included in the review reported site-level measurements, limiting the identification of equipment- and component-level emissions sources and root cause. Articles that measured or identified equipment-level sources (18%) noted high emissions from tanks, unlit flares, and compressors. The most common stand-off measurement platforms were vehicles and aircraft, while the use of satellites increased in articles published since 2019. Reported emissions profiles were consistently heavy-tailed and indicate method-based and geographic differences in magnitude and skew. All articles (n = 26) that compared inventory- to measurement-based estimates of emissions found large discrepancies in that inventories under-estimated the latter by a factor of 1.2–10 times. We recommend future research focus on: (i) field-based emissions studies for under-represented regions and source categories, (ii) identifying root causes and linking measurements to mitigation, and (iii) multi-level measurement integration.https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ad3129methane emissionsoil and gasmeasurement methodsemissions sourcesemissions profilesreview |
| spellingShingle | Coleman Vollrath Chris H Hugenholtz Thomas E Barchyn Onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry: a scoping review Environmental Research Communications methane emissions oil and gas measurement methods emissions sources emissions profiles review |
| title | Onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry: a scoping review |
| title_full | Onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry: a scoping review |
| title_fullStr | Onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry: a scoping review |
| title_full_unstemmed | Onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry: a scoping review |
| title_short | Onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry: a scoping review |
| title_sort | onshore methane emissions measurements from the oil and gas industry a scoping review |
| topic | methane emissions oil and gas measurement methods emissions sources emissions profiles review |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ad3129 |
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