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Using Frequent, High-Resolution Remote Sensing to Identify Intermittent and Overlapping CH4 sources in Oil and Gas Development Regions
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  • Matthew Alvarado,
  • Archana Dayalu,
  • David B Hogan,
  • Igor Polonsky,
  • Gary Start,
  • Philip Father,
  • Sam Aminfard,
  • Felipe J Cardoso-Saldaña,
  • Cynthia A Randles
Matthew Alvarado
AER

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Archana Dayalu
AER
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David B Hogan
AER
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Igor Polonsky
AER
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Gary Start
Scepter
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Philip Father
Scepter
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Sam Aminfard
ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company
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Felipe J Cardoso-Saldaña
ExxonMobil Technology and Engineering
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Cynthia A Randles
ExxonMobil Research and Engineering Company
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Abstract

The oil and natural gas industry needs accurate and frequent information on methane CH4 emissions from all of their facilities globally in order to effectively reduce emissions. Here we describe the development of requirements for a constellation of satellites to provide frequent data on point source CH4 emissions from the oil and gas industry. Three types of sources were examined: isolated continuous plumes with emissions rates of 50 kg hr-1, intermittent CH4 releases from activities such as compressor start-ups, and overlapping continuous plumes. The dispersion model SCICHEM was used to simulate the dispersion of methane plumes and intermittent releases for typical meteorology in the Permian Basin, and a plume mask and integrated mass enhancement (IME) algorithm were applied to identify and quantify the emissions. The precision and ground sampling distance of the future satellite instrument were varied to determine the required precision and horizontal resolution of the satellite instrument. We find that quantifying CH4 point source emissions as small as 50 kg hr-1 by remote sensing requires a ground sampling distance of 30-60 m and a CH4 column precision of 0.5-1.0% for the range of conditions analyzed. Detecting intermittent sources is also possible with the above instrument specifications if the puff is observed within 15 min of emission. Plumes of similar source strengths more than 0.5 km apart can be separated with existing plume identification approaches but separating sources closer than that or with very different emission rates will require further development of plume identification techniques.
19 Apr 2023Submitted to ESS Open Archive
29 Apr 2023Published in ESS Open Archive