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* GRAPHIC-Global methane intensity: https://tmsnrt.rs/318gDAX
* Methane emission estimates by country: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Yx4aou
* GRAPHIC-Russian methane emissions estimates: https://tmsnrt.rs/3ex9wG7
* GRAPHIC-Sources of Russian methane: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Z0ZO8p
By Shadia Nasralla
LONDON, June 26 (Reuters) - Last fall, European Space Agency
satellites detected huge plumes of the invisible planet-warming
gas methane leaking from the Yamal pipeline that carries natural
gas from Siberia to Europe.
Energy consultancy Kayrros estimated one leak was spewing
out 93 tonnes of methane every hour, meaning the daily emissions
from the leakage were equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide
pumped out in a year by 15,000 cars in the United States.
The find, which has not been reported, is part of a growing
effort by companies, academics and some energy producers to use
space-age technology to find the biggest methane leaks as the
potent heat-trapping gas builds up rapidly in the atmosphere.
Kayrros, which is analysing the satellite data, said another
leak nearby was gushing at a rate of 17 tonnes an hour and that
it had informed Yamal's operator Gazprom about its
findings this month.
Gazprom did not immediately respond to requests for comment
about the leaks identified by Kayrros.
Up to now, estimates of greenhouse gas emissions from
industries have relied mainly on paper-based calculations of
what's pouring out of tailpipes and smokestacks, based on the
amount of energy consumed by people and businesses.
But as satellite technology improves, researchers are
starting to stress test the data - and the early results show
leaky oil and gas industry infrastructure is responsible for far
more of the methane in the atmosphere than previously thought.
Such a revelation would heap pressure on energy companies –
already targeted by climate activists and investors for their
contribution to carbon dioxide emissions - to find and plug
methane leaks.
The new satellite discoveries of methane leaks could also
lead to more stringent regulatory regimes targeting natural gas,
once seen as a "clean" fossil fuel, as governments seek to
combat climate change, experts say.
While scientists generally agree that calculating emissions
based on consumption works well for carbon dioxide, it is less
reliable for methane, which is prone to unexpected leaks.
Methane is also 80 times more potent during its first 20
years in the atmosphere and scientists say that identifying
methane sources is crucial to making the drastic emissions cuts
needed to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
"What this now shows is that the avoidance of that fossil
leakage actually can have a larger impact than what was
anticipated earlier," said Imperial College London climate
scientist Joeri Rogelj, who is one of the authors for reports by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
PIVOTAL DISCOVERY
A study in February's Nature magazine reinforced the idea
that the oil and gas industry produces far more methane than
previously thought as it suggested emissions of the gas from
natural causes have been significantly overestimated.
The findings don't let farming off the hook - it's still
responsible for a quarter of the methane in the atmosphere - but
they suggest mud volcanoes and natural oil and gas seepages have
been taking some of the heat for the energy industry's leaks.
Some big oil and gas companies such as BP and Royal
Dutch Shell are tackling the issue by investing in
satellite companies or signing monitoring deals so they can find
and plug their leaks and stick to pledges to slash emissions.
The push to detect emissions from the sky began when U.S.
advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and universities
including Harvard used aerial measurements to show methane leaks
from America's oil and gas heartland were 60% above inventories
reported to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
That 2018 report was pivotal, said Christophe McGlade, a
senior researcher at the International Energy Agency (IEA).
"What they found from actual ground and aerial measurements
is that the engineering-based approach can really underestimate
total emissions," he said. "Maybe if emissions were higher in
the United States than previous estimates, maybe they were
higher in other parts of the world too?"
A year later, Canadian greenhouse gas monitoring company
GHGSat found another major leak at pipeline and compressor
infrastructure near the Korpezhe field in Turkmenistan.
In an October report, GHGSat estimated the leak released
142,000 tonnes of methane in the 12 months to the end of January
2019 and said then it was the biggest on record.
GHGSat said the leak was plugged in April 2019 after state
oil company Turkmen Oil was notified. Turkmen Oil officials
could not be reached for comment. The company declined to
comment when asked about it in November.
"That one emission that we found together represents about
one million cars taken off the road per year," said GHGSat
founder Stephane Germain.
Now, the more recent Kayrros discovery has added to the
evidence that undetected methane leaks from the energy industry
are a global issue – and a major one.
RUSSIA IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Kayrros said its analysis of the satellite data showed
concentrations of methane around compressor stations along the
pipeline linking Russian gasfields to Europe.
The Yamal-Europe pipeline stretches 2,000 km (1,250 miles)
from Germany through Poland and Belarus to Russia where it joins
the 2,200 km SRTO–Torzhok pipeline to Siberia's gasfields.
Gazprom estimated that about 0.29% of the 679
billion cubic metres of gas it moved through its pipeline
network escaped as methane emissions in 2019. Yamal has an
annual capacity of about 33 billion cubic metres.
"These figures correspond to the best global practices,"
Gazprom said in a June 10 statement about its emissions.
Kayrros also discovered leaks from oil and gas installations
in the Sahara Desert in North Africa.
"Early results show that the estimates we have been relying
on for the last years and decades are probably too low and we're
finding more methane coming out of various industries and
regions than we thought was the case," said Christian Lelong,
director for natural resources at Kayrros.
McGlade said the IEA increased the projected contributions
of several countries in central Asia and North Africa in its
Methane Tracker this year because of the satellite detections.
He singled out Russia as one country where official methane
emissions estimates were likely too low.
According to current IEA estimates of methane emitting
countries, Russia is closely followed by the United States, with
other large oil and gas producers such as Iraq, Iran and Saudi
Arabia further down the list.
"Our estimates suggest that Russia is actually among the
higher emitters globally. There does appear to be evidence from
satellites of leaks along some of its large gas pipeline
routes," McGlade said.
The Kremlin did not immediately respond to requests for
comment about the IEA estimates.
MORE SATELLITES
The scrutiny from space is set to intensify. GHGSat aims to
launch two new satellites this year while the EDF advocacy group
plans to launch its own satellite in 2022.
The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) is also working on a satellite monitoring programme for
greenhouse gas emissions, specifically in the United States.
Shell signed a deal with GHGSat last year to work towards
covering its sites globally, saying it hopes to get its methane
leakage rate down to 0.2%, or below, by 2025.
BP is planning to cover its sites with constant measurements
by 2023 and invested $5 million this month in Satelytics, an
analytics firm that tracks methane emissions using satellites.
BP, Shell and U.S. non-profit EDF - along with Eni,
Total, Equinor and Wintershall Dea - sent
policy recommendations to the European Union in May, asking the
world's biggest gas importer to standardise the gathering of
methane emissions data by 2023, using satellite technology.
U.S. oil companies have also been exploring ways to detect
methane emissions, said Howard Feldman, senior director for
regulatory and scientific affairs at the American Petroleum
Institute.
Exxon Mobil Corp, for example, said this year it was
field testing eight detection methods, including satellites and
aerial surveillance with drones, helicopters and planes.
(Additional reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Richard
Valdmanis, David Clarke and Jon Boyle)