Intermittency of Large Methane Emitters in the Permian Basin

The Permian Basin is the largest and fastest growing oil and gas (O&G) producing region in the United States. We conducted an extensive airborne campaign across the majority of the Permian in September-November, 2019 with imaging spectrometers to quantify strong methane (CH4) point source emissions at facility-scales, including high frequency sampling to evaluate intermittency. We identified 1100 unique and heavy-tailed distributed sources that were sampled at least 3 times (average 8 times), showing 26% average persistence. Sources that were routinely persistent (50-100%) make up only 11% of high emitting infrastructure but 29% of quantified emissions from this population, potentially indicative of leaking equipment that merits repair. Sector attribution of plumes shows that 50% of detected emissions result from O&G production, 38% from gathering and boosting, and 12% from processing. This suggests a 20% relative shift from upstream to midstream compared to other US O&G basins for large emitters. Simultaneous spectroscopic identification of flares found that 12% of detected Permian CH4 plume emissions were associated with either active or inactive flares. Frequent, high-resolution monitoring is necessary to accurately understand intermittent methane superemitters across large, heterogeneous O&G basins and efficiently pinpoint persistent leaks for mitigation.

Automated summary

The Permian Basin is the largest and fastest growing oil and gas producing region in the US, with 1100 unique methane emission sources identified through airborne surveys. Most emissions come from O&G production, and frequent high-resolution monitoring is needed to accurately pinpoint persistent leaks.