A recent study conducted by the University of Michigan Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering program found that methane and carbon dioxide emissions in the Gulf of Mexico are double what has been reported by official inventories. This study was conducted alongside researchers from Stanford University, Scientific Aviation, Carbon Mapper and the Environmental Defense Fund. According to the study, these increased emissions are the result of the use of shallow-water central-hub facilities that extract oil and gas.
The Gulf of Mexico is the largest offshore fossil fuel production basin in the United States. This production is done through platforms, which are facilities that extract oil and gas from rock formations beneath the seabed. Then, flaring is used to burn off waste and excess gas in order to protect the equipment and system processes, and venting releases those emissions directly into the atmosphere.
In an email to The Michigan Daily, Assistant Research Scientist Genevieve Plant explained the process and importance of flaring.
“Ideally, the flame in flare converts almost all the methane in the gas to carbon dioxide, which is also a greenhouse gas but has a much lower global warming potential compared to methane,” Plant said. “If there is gas that needs to be disposed of, from a climate perspective, it is better to burn the gas using a high efficiency flare to convert the methane to carbon dioxide, thus reducing how much methane makes it to the atmosphere.”
The size of the platform relies on the depth of the water it is located in. For shallow waters, central-hub facilities are used to collect oil and gas. For mid-depth waters there are mid-sized platforms, and for deep waters, newer, high-volume platforms are used. These central-hub facilities are the main contributor to harmful levels of shallow-water production emissions.
The Environmental Protection Agency reports on emissions sourced in both state and federal waters, including the Gulf of Mexico. These reports are based on total emissions, which are not specific to any particular site, making it hard to track the culprit of these increased emissions
To get measurements for this study, the U-M research team flew an airplane over the Gulf of Mexico. This data, along with data from previous field surveys, was used to get the largest sample size possible.
Eric Kort, CLaSP associate professor and principal investigator of the F3UEL project, published a paper on this study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences with Plant and U-M alum Alan Negron, who worked as a graduate student research assistant for CLaSP.
This study proposes three ways to mitigate environmental damage from gas and oil production: replacing venting with efficient flaring of methane byproducts, repairing damaged equipment and plugging and abandoning irreparable sites.
In an email to The Daily, Kort wrote about the implications of this research for the future of environmental policies surrounding oil and gas production.
“With our measurements we now know the actual climate impact of current production in the Gulf of Mexico,” Kort said. “Direct observations identified the excess methane emissions so future observations can be used to evaluate if mitigation or legislative measures are effective.”
Negron led the data collection and analysis processes on the research team and helped design the sites that the team visited. Negron told The Daily the metrics used in the study will aid policymakers in gauging the impact of climate change.
“The Carbon Intensity measurement is a baseline for the statements in our study,” Negron said. “This way, numbers can be compared between sites and the climate impact can be easily translated,” Negron said. “Regulators can now decide what to do with these numbers.”
Plant also commented on the role this study plays in the future of environmental policy.
“This study highlights the important role that measurements can play in not only improving our understanding of how methane is released to our atmosphere but also how measurement frameworks can potentially inform effective mitigation strategies,” Plant said.
Daily Staff News Reporter Emma Lapp can be reached at emmalapp@umich.edu.