Methane Might Be a Bigger Climate Problem Than Thought, Study Finds

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/29/climate/gas-flaring-climate-methane.html

By Henry Fountain, The New York Times. 

Excerpt: The oil industry practice of burning unwanted methane is less effective than previously assumed, scientists said Thursday, resulting in new estimates for releases of the greenhouse gas in the United States that are about five times as high as earlier ones. In a study of the three largest oil and gas basins in the United States, the researchers found that the practice, known as flaring, often doesn’t completely burn the methane, a potent heat-trapping gas that is often a byproduct of oil production. And in many cases, they discovered, flares are extinguished and not reignited, so all the methane escapes into the atmosphere. Improving efficiency and ensuring that all flares remain lit would result in annual emissions reductions in the United States equal to taking nearly 3 million cars off the road each year, the scientists said. ...said one of the researchers, Eric A. Kort, “...they actually matter more for climate than we realized. ...if we clean up our act with these flares, we actually would have a much more positive climate impact than we would have realized initially” ...Because methane is a stronger, though shorter-lived, greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, efforts to identify and reduce methane emissions have intensified in recent years. Methane is the primary component of natural gas ...which can leak into the atmosphere from wells, pipelines and other infrastructure, and is also deliberately released for maintenance or other reasons. But vast amounts are flared. Gas that is flared is often produced with oil at wells around the world, or at other industry facilities. There may not be a pipeline or other means to market it economically, and because it is flammable, it poses safety issues. In such cases, the gas is sent through a vertical pipe with an igniter at the top, and burned.… 

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