Excess methane emissions from shallow water platforms elevate the carbon intensity of US Gulf of Mexico oil and gas production.

ABSTRACT: The Gulf of Mexico is the largest offshore fossil fuel production basin in the United States. Decisions on expanding production in the region legally depend on assessments of the climate impact of new growth. Here, we collect airborne observations and combine them with previous surveys and inventories to estimate the climate impact of current field operations. We evaluate all major on-site greenhouse gas emissions, carbon dioxide (CO₂) from combustion, and methane from losses and venting. Using these findings, we estimate the climate impact per unit of energy of produced oil and gas (the carbon intensity). We find high methane emissions (0.60 Tg/y [0.41 to 0.81, 95% confidence interval]) exceeding inventories. This elevates the average CI of the basin to 5.3 g CO₂e/MJ

SUBMITTER: Gorchov Negron AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10104567 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature