Methane intensity and emissions across major oil and gas basins and individual jurisdictions using MethaneSAT observations
[EN] Mitigating anthropogenic methane emissions is widely recognized as an effective strategy to reduce near-term climate warming. Here, we use satellite observations from MethaneSAT (2024-2025) to characterize methane emissions from six oil and gas producing regions as a demonstration of MethaneSAT...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2026 |
| País: | España |
| Recursos: | Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) |
| Repositorio: | RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:dnet:riunet______::fd646b4eeb579518f1447a8d91b15467 |
| Acesso em linha: | https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/235408 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palavra-chave: | Methane emissions MethaneSAT Oil and gas production Emission quantification Greenhouse gas monitoring Climate change mitigation |
| Resumo: | [EN] Mitigating anthropogenic methane emissions is widely recognized as an effective strategy to reduce near-term climate warming. Here, we use satellite observations from MethaneSAT (2024-2025) to characterize methane emissions from six oil and gas producing regions as a demonstration of MethaneSAT data capabilities. MethaneSAT was designed to address a gap in quantitative data of spatially-resolved emissions, by providing high-resolution area emissions (similar to 4km & times;4km) with a wide-swath (220-440 km). The native pixel resolution of MethaneSAT is similar to 110m & times;400m (at nadir) at which the column-averaged dry-air mole fraction of methane is retrieved before atmospheric inversion-based methane emissions data are produced. We analyze emissions data across six oil and gas producing regions: the Permian (USA), San Joaquin (USA), Eagle Ford (USA/Mexico), Amu Darya (Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan), and the Zagros Foldbelt (Iran/Iraq). Regional oil and gas emissions span more than an order of magnitude, ranging from 408 th-1 (95 % c.i.: 303-516 th-1) for the Permian basin to 30 th-1 (95 % c.i.: 20-41 th-1) in the San Joaquin basin. Methane intensities also vary substantially by more than an order of magnitude in both gas-production-normalized and energy-normalized metrics. These differences reflect diverse factors, including oil versus gas production, infrastructure age, lower-producing wells, and emission mitigation controls. Across individual jurisdictions, including counties/districts, we find consistent underestimation by gridded EPA-GHGI and EDGAR bottom-up inventories relative to MethaneSAT-derived emissions. Overall, MethaneSAT data provide basin-wide and sub-regional insights into methane emissions and intensities, offering critical scientific and policy-relevant information to support targeted emission quantification and mitigation strategies. |
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