Momentick, an emissions intelligence company, identified numerous methane leaks in the county of Midland, Texas over the past four years: out of the 30 assets, Momentick detected 50 methane plumes emanating from 16 unique facilities* (more than half).
Chosen facilities included wells, metering stations, pipelines, and compressor stations owned by multiple operators. All of the detected plumes are considered Super Emitters according to the EPA, with most exuding over 4500 Kg/hr and five over 10,000 Kg/hr. Most emissions originate from wellheads.
The most recent emission was recorded on June 25, 2024.
Momentick detected the leaks by leveraging proprietary algorithms on satellite imagery. Momentick provides accurate and autonomous capabilities for identifying and quantifying methane and other GHG emissions on a planetary scale. Their comprehensive emissions intelligence platform enables scalable monitoring, reporting, and verification. By analyzing satellite imagery, Momentick was able to monitor methane emissions over the past year, randomly selecting 30 assets near Midland County for a closer examination.
Methane, the dominant component in natural gas, is an invisible and odorless gas. This allows emissions and leaks to remain undetected for extended periods, leading to global warming. Methane is 84 times more potent in trapping heat than carbon dioxide, contributing to approximately 21% of total GHG emissions. The Global Methane Pledge aims for a 30% reduction in methane emissions by 2030, which alone could mitigate 0.2 degrees of warming by 2050. Acknowledging its role as the cheapest and quickest method to mitigate global warming, methane is essential in international climate efforts and goals.
The Midland Basin, part of the famous Permian oil and gas basin, accounted for ~15 percent of US crude oil production and ~6 percent of dry natural gas production in 2020. Exploited since the 1940’s, it is densely populated with a plethora of pinpoint and elongated production facilities such as wells, pumps, compressor stations, metering stations, pipelines and more. With hydraulic fracturing unlocking new gas bearing formations in the last two decades, and a new takeaway pipeline coming online in 2020, the potential for fugitive methane leaks and unregulated flaring is immense.
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