Massive methane emissions by oil and gas industry detected from space

Map of main gas pipelines and sources of methane emissions related to oil and gas industry operations. Kayrros Inc. Esri, HERE, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community - A major contributor to climate change, methane (CH₄) has a global warming potential approximately 30 times higher than that of CO₂, over a 100-year period. One quarter of anthropogenic emissions of this greenhouse gas originate in worldwide extraction of coal, oil, and natural gas (of which methane is the main component). A study in 2018 already revealed that official US inventories greatly underestimated actual emissions from oil and gas extraction and distribution activities. The observed discrepancy is apparently due to undeclared sporadic releases of large quantities of methane by industry operators. An international research team led by the Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement (CNRS / CEA / UVSQ), in cooperation with the firm Kayrros, 2 have achieved a world first by completing a global tally of the largest emissions of methane into the atmosphere by the fossil-fuel industry.