Methane Emissions from Process Equipment at Natural Gas Production Sites in the United States: Liquid Unloadings
Abstract
Methane emissions from liquid unloadings were measured at 107 wells in natural gas production regions throughout the United States. Liquid unloadings clear wells of accumulated liquids to increase production, employing a variety of liquid lifting mechanisms. In this work, wells with and without plunger lifts were sampled. Most wells without plunger lifts unload less than 10 times per year with emissions averaging 21 000–35 000 scf methane (0.4–0.7 Mg) per event (95% confidence limits of 10 000–50 000 scf/event). For wells with plunger lifts, emissions averaged 1000–10 000 scf methane (0.02–0.2 Mg) per event (95% confidence limits of 500–12 000 scf/event). Some wells with plunger lifts are automatically triggered and unload thousands of times per year and these wells account for the majority of the emissions from all wells with liquid unloadings. If the data collected in this work are assumed to be representative of national populations, the data suggest that the central estimate of emissions from unloadings (270 Gg/yr, 95% confidence range of 190–400 Gg) are within a few percent of the emissions estimated in the EPA 2012 Greenhouse Gas National Emission Inventory (released in 2014), with emissions dominated by wells with high frequencies of unloadings.
Additional Information
© 2014 American Chemical Society. This is an open access article published under an ACS AuthorChoice License, which permits copying and redistribution of the article or any adaptations for non-commercial purposes Received: August 18, 2014; Revised: November 11, 2014; Accepted: November 21, 2014; Published: December 9, 2014. We thank the sponsors of this work for financial support, technical advice and access to sites for sampling. The sponsors were Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, BG Group plc, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc., Pioneer Natural Resources Company, SWEPI LP (Shell), Southwestern Energy, Statoil, and XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil. Funding for EDF's methane research series, including the University of Texas study, is provided for by Fiona and Stan Druckenmiller, Heising-Simons Foundation, Bill and Susan Oberndorf, Betsy and Sam Reeves, Robertson Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, TomKat Charitable Trust, and the Walton Family Foundation.Attached Files
Published - es504016r.pdf
Supplemental Material - es504016r_si_001.pdf
Supplemental Material - es504016r_si_002.xlsx
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 55105
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20150223-111044023
- Environmental Defense Fund
- Anadarko Petroleum Corporation
- BG Group plc
- Chevron
- ConocoPhillips
- Encana Oil & Gas (USA) Inc.
- Pioneer Natural Resources Company
- SWEPI LP (Shell)
- Southwestern Energy
- Statoil
- XTO Energy
- Fiona and Stan Druckenmiller
- Heising-Simons Foundation
- Bill and Susan Oberndorf
- Betsy and Sam Reeves
- Robertson Foundation
- Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
- TomKat Charitable Trust
- Walton Family Foundation
- Created
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2015-02-24Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field