Nonproducing Oil Wells May Be Emitting 7 Times More Methane Than We Thought

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By Lauren Schneider, Eos/AGU. 

Excerpt: Canada is home to more than 400,000 nonproducing oil and gas wells. These abandoned facilities still emit methane, which can contaminate water supplies and pollute the atmosphere with a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide. The scope of these emissions may be greater than previously understood, according to a new study. In 2023, nonproducing wells may have leaked 230 kilotons of methane, about 7 times more than the official estimates published in the government’s annual National Inventory Report (NIR).... 

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