Emerging methane technologies promise rapid and cost-effective methods to measure and monitor methane emissions. Here, we present results from the Alberta Methane Field Challengethe first large-scale, concurrent field trial of eleven alternative methane emissions detection and quantification technologies at operating oil and gas sites. We evaluate new technologies by comparing their performance with conventional optical gas imaging survey. Overall, technologies are effective at detecting methane emissions, with 8 out of 11 technologies achieving an effectiveness of approximately 80%. Importantly, results highlight the key differences in technology performance between those observed at controlled release tests versus those in field conditions. Intermittent emissions from tanks substantially affects detection and site-level quantification estimates and should be independently monitored while assessing technology performance. In this study, all technologies improved their effectiveness in detecting tank emissions when intermittency was considered. Truck-and plane-based systems have clear advantages in survey speed over other technologies, but their use as effective screening technologies to identify high-emitting sites rests on their quantification effectiveness. Drone-based technologies demonstrated higher effectiveness than other technologies in identifying quantification rank compared to baseline OGI-based survey. Overall, quantification under in-field conditions is affected by several exogenous factors such as temporal variation in emissions and changing environmental conditions. We recommend that assessment studies of new methane detection technologies at oil and gas facilities include comprehensive, continuous, and redundant emissions measurement.Recently, several new methane emissions detection technologies that promise faster and more cost-effective leak detection than existing approaches have been developed [19]. These technologies include continuous monitoring systems, mobile sensors mounted on drones, trucks, and planes, handheld sensors, and satellite systems [20]. Most of these technologies are not currently approved for use in regulatory LDAR programs. To enable widespread deployment, the efficacy of new technologies must be validated through rigorous testing, modeling, and field trials. Recent studies in the US have evaluated a variety of mobile methane detection technologies under controlled conditions [21]-[23]. The Stanford/EDF Mobile Monitoring Challenge, for example, evaluated ten truck-, drone-, and plane-based systems for their effectiveness in detecting and quantifying methane emissions at controlled release test facilities [21]. The US Department of Energy's MONITOR program funded the development of several new methane sensors that were tested under controlled conditions [24]. While these studies provided data on technology parameters such as probability of detection and false positive rates, they are not representative of typical O&G operations. Thus, systematic field trials at producing O&G...
The importance of reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations as a near-term climate action is widely recognized. Most jurisdictions around the globe using leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs to find and fix methane leaks. In this work, we empirically evaluate the efficacy of LDAR programs using a large-scale, bottom-up, randomized controlled field experiment across ~200 oil and gas sites in Canada. We find that tanks are the single largest source of emissions, contributing to nearly 60% of total emissions. The average number of leaks at treatment sites that underwent repair reduced by ~50% compared to control sites. Although control sites did not see a reduction in the number of leaks, emissions reduced by approximately 36% suggesting potential impact of routine maintenance activities to find and fix large leaks. By tracking tags on leaking equipment over time, we find a high degree of persistence – leaks that are repaired remain fixed in follow-up surveys, while non-repaired leaks remain emitting. We did not observe any significant growth in emission rate for non-repaired leaks, suggesting that any increase in observed leak emissions following LDAR surveys are likely from new leaks. Vent emissions reduced by 38% without a significant reduction in the average number of vents across control and treatment sites, showing the importance of both anomalous vents and temporal variations in vent emissions. Our results show that a focus on equipment and sites that are prone to high emissions such as tanks and oil sites are key to cost-effective mitigation.
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