Methane leaks from dormant oil and gas wells in Canada are seven times worse than thought, McGill study suggests
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Methane leaks from dormant oil and gas wells in Canada are seven times worse than thought, McGill study suggests
A few unplugged gas wells are doing most of the damage, and targeting them would be an efficient way to reduce emissions of this potent greenhouse gas, researcher says Methane emissions from Canada’s non-producing oil and gas wells appear to be seven times higher than government estimates, according to a new study led by researchers at McGill University. The findings spotlight a major gap in the country’s official greenhouse gas inventory and raise urgent questions about how methane leaks are monitored, reported and managed. “Non-producing wells are one of the most uncertain sources of methane emissions in Canada,” said Mary Kang, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at McGill and senior author on the paper. “We measured the highest methane emission rate from a non-producing oil and gas well ever reported in Canada.” Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Over a 20-year period, it traps about 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than the same amount of carbon dioxide. It’s also associated with air pollution and health risks.Kang’s team directly measured methane emissions from 494 wells across five provinces using a chamber-based method and analyzed well-level data such as age, depth and plugging status. The national emissions estimate they arrived at – 230 kilotonnes per year – is sevenfold higher than the 34 kilotonnes reported in Canada’s National Inventory Report. The study was published in Environmental Science & Technology. There are more than 425,000 inactive oil and gas wells across Canada, most of which are in Alberta and Saskatchewan. This means that the number of measured wells is very small, at only 0.1 per cent. “One surprising finding was just how much the drivers of emissions varied between provinces,” said Kang. “We thought geological differences within provinces would matter more, but the dominant factors appear to be at the provincial scale, likely due to variations in policy and operational practices.” The results reveal that a small fraction of wells – especially unplugged gas wells – are responsible for the vast majority of non-producing well methane emissions. Kang says targeting these high emitters would be an efficient way to reduce emissions. “Rather than just measuring more wells at random, we can use well attributes to identify where emissions are likely to be highest, and focus monitoring and mitigation efforts there,” she said. The study serves as a reminder of the need to rethink how old wells are managed. “There’s potential to repurpose these sites in ways that generate funding for long-term monitoring and emissions reduction,” said Kang. "Many of these sites can be transformed to produce clean energy, such as wind, solar, and geothermal," said Jade Boutot, a PhD student in Kang's lab and co-author of the study. The researchers emphasize that improving methane data is critical to meeting Canada’s climate targets. “If we don’t have accurate estimates of methane emissions, we can’t design effective climate policies,” Kang added. About the study Sevenfold Underestimation of Methane Emissions from Non-producing Oil and Gas Wells in Canada by Louise Klotz, Liam Woolley, Bianca Lamarche, Jade Boutot, and Mary Kang was published in Environmental Science & Technology.
Channels (www.mcgill.ca)
The page seems down. Could someone forward the study to me
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The page seems down. Could someone forward the study to me
Seems to work for me, but here’s the direct link for the study https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c05602
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A more correct title would be “7 to 8 times more than originally reported”
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Seems to work for me, but here’s the direct link for the study https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c05602
Turns out that all the site for McGill don’t want me to enter
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It’s a good bit of infrastructure to capture, compress, transport, and sell methane on the market. Since these are “non-producing” wells, I would assume that the leakage is (relatively) low and maybe not be worth the cost of all the setup and maintenance.
Just put a methane generator on them and sell the power onto the grid. Its what many landdfills do with their methane.
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Just put a methane generator on them and sell the power onto the grid. Its what many landdfills do with their methane.
Lots of industries just flare it when the winds are blowing the right way, ie: downwind of any Environment Canada sensors.
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Methane leaks from dormant oil and gas wells in Canada are seven times worse than thought, McGill study suggests
A few unplugged gas wells are doing most of the damage, and targeting them would be an efficient way to reduce emissions of this potent greenhouse gas, researcher says Methane emissions from Canada’s non-producing oil and gas wells appear to be seven times higher than government estimates, according to a new study led by researchers at McGill University. The findings spotlight a major gap in the country’s official greenhouse gas inventory and raise urgent questions about how methane leaks are monitored, reported and managed. “Non-producing wells are one of the most uncertain sources of methane emissions in Canada,” said Mary Kang, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at McGill and senior author on the paper. “We measured the highest methane emission rate from a non-producing oil and gas well ever reported in Canada.” Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Over a 20-year period, it traps about 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than the same amount of carbon dioxide. It’s also associated with air pollution and health risks.Kang’s team directly measured methane emissions from 494 wells across five provinces using a chamber-based method and analyzed well-level data such as age, depth and plugging status. The national emissions estimate they arrived at – 230 kilotonnes per year – is sevenfold higher than the 34 kilotonnes reported in Canada’s National Inventory Report. The study was published in Environmental Science & Technology. There are more than 425,000 inactive oil and gas wells across Canada, most of which are in Alberta and Saskatchewan. This means that the number of measured wells is very small, at only 0.1 per cent. “One surprising finding was just how much the drivers of emissions varied between provinces,” said Kang. “We thought geological differences within provinces would matter more, but the dominant factors appear to be at the provincial scale, likely due to variations in policy and operational practices.” The results reveal that a small fraction of wells – especially unplugged gas wells – are responsible for the vast majority of non-producing well methane emissions. Kang says targeting these high emitters would be an efficient way to reduce emissions. “Rather than just measuring more wells at random, we can use well attributes to identify where emissions are likely to be highest, and focus monitoring and mitigation efforts there,” she said. The study serves as a reminder of the need to rethink how old wells are managed. “There’s potential to repurpose these sites in ways that generate funding for long-term monitoring and emissions reduction,” said Kang. "Many of these sites can be transformed to produce clean energy, such as wind, solar, and geothermal," said Jade Boutot, a PhD student in Kang's lab and co-author of the study. The researchers emphasize that improving methane data is critical to meeting Canada’s climate targets. “If we don’t have accurate estimates of methane emissions, we can’t design effective climate policies,” Kang added. About the study Sevenfold Underestimation of Methane Emissions from Non-producing Oil and Gas Wells in Canada by Louise Klotz, Liam Woolley, Bianca Lamarche, Jade Boutot, and Mary Kang was published in Environmental Science & Technology.
Channels (www.mcgill.ca)
Who is going to prison over that?
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This post did not contain any content.
Methane leaks from dormant oil and gas wells in Canada are seven times worse than thought, McGill study suggests
A few unplugged gas wells are doing most of the damage, and targeting them would be an efficient way to reduce emissions of this potent greenhouse gas, researcher says Methane emissions from Canada’s non-producing oil and gas wells appear to be seven times higher than government estimates, according to a new study led by researchers at McGill University. The findings spotlight a major gap in the country’s official greenhouse gas inventory and raise urgent questions about how methane leaks are monitored, reported and managed. “Non-producing wells are one of the most uncertain sources of methane emissions in Canada,” said Mary Kang, Associate Professor of Civil Engineering at McGill and senior author on the paper. “We measured the highest methane emission rate from a non-producing oil and gas well ever reported in Canada.” Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Over a 20-year period, it traps about 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than the same amount of carbon dioxide. It’s also associated with air pollution and health risks.Kang’s team directly measured methane emissions from 494 wells across five provinces using a chamber-based method and analyzed well-level data such as age, depth and plugging status. The national emissions estimate they arrived at – 230 kilotonnes per year – is sevenfold higher than the 34 kilotonnes reported in Canada’s National Inventory Report. The study was published in Environmental Science & Technology. There are more than 425,000 inactive oil and gas wells across Canada, most of which are in Alberta and Saskatchewan. This means that the number of measured wells is very small, at only 0.1 per cent. “One surprising finding was just how much the drivers of emissions varied between provinces,” said Kang. “We thought geological differences within provinces would matter more, but the dominant factors appear to be at the provincial scale, likely due to variations in policy and operational practices.” The results reveal that a small fraction of wells – especially unplugged gas wells – are responsible for the vast majority of non-producing well methane emissions. Kang says targeting these high emitters would be an efficient way to reduce emissions. “Rather than just measuring more wells at random, we can use well attributes to identify where emissions are likely to be highest, and focus monitoring and mitigation efforts there,” she said. The study serves as a reminder of the need to rethink how old wells are managed. “There’s potential to repurpose these sites in ways that generate funding for long-term monitoring and emissions reduction,” said Kang. "Many of these sites can be transformed to produce clean energy, such as wind, solar, and geothermal," said Jade Boutot, a PhD student in Kang's lab and co-author of the study. The researchers emphasize that improving methane data is critical to meeting Canada’s climate targets. “If we don’t have accurate estimates of methane emissions, we can’t design effective climate policies,” Kang added. About the study Sevenfold Underestimation of Methane Emissions from Non-producing Oil and Gas Wells in Canada by Louise Klotz, Liam Woolley, Bianca Lamarche, Jade Boutot, and Mary Kang was published in Environmental Science & Technology.
Channels (www.mcgill.ca)
If only those companies were wealthy enough to do something about it. I guess our only choice is let the tazpayer handle it.
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Lots of industries just flare it when the winds are blowing the right way, ie: downwind of any Environment Canada sensors.
Flaring is much better than just letting the methane escape so it would be a better solution than doing nothing and would be a great stepping stone to a more permanent option. Flaring would be much cheaper than a methane generator or capture device.
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Just put a methane generator on them and sell the power onto the grid. Its what many landdfills do with their methane.
Garbage dumps are close to the grid and the users.
Many of the worst offenders are very old wells, as much as a century old. Their original owners are long gone which is how governments ended up being burdened with capping them.
Like many old toxic mines, the creators of the problems have evaded legal liability by going out of business. Legal frameworks may be more rigorous now but the old wells and mines remain.
Some of the oldest wells, like the ones near Petrolia in SW Ontario, might be economically viable for methane power generation. Others in Saskatchewan and Alberta are likely not.
