Dataset Information

Methane emissions from the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia based on airborne measurements.

ABSTRACT: Natural gas production in the U.S. has increased rapidly over the past decade, along with concerns about methane (CH₄) leakage (total fugitive emissions), and climate impacts. Quantification of CH₄ emissions from oil and natural gas (O&NG) operations is important for establishing scientifically sound, cost-effective policies for mitigating greenhouse gases. We use aircraft measurements and a mass balance approach for three flight experiments in August and September 2015 to estimate CH₄ emissions from O&NG operations in the southwestern Marcellus Shale region. We estimate the mean?±?1? CH₄ emission rate as 36.7?±?1.9?kg?CH₄?s^-1 (or 1.16?±?0.06?Tg?CH₄?yr^-1) with 59% coming from O&NG operations. We estimate the mean?±?1? CH₄ leak rate from O&NG operations as 3.9?±?0.4% with a lower limit of 1.5% and an upper limit of 6.3%. This leak rate is broadly consistent with the results from several recent top-down studies but higher than the results from a few other observational studies as well as in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency CH₄ emission inventory. However, a substantial source of CH₄ was found to contain little ethane (C₂H₆), possibly due to coalbed CH₄ emitted either directly from coalmines or from wells drilled through coalbed layers. Although recent regulations requiring capture of gas from the completion venting step of the hydraulic fracturing appear to have reduced losses, our study suggests that for a 20?year time scale, energy derived from the combustion of natural gas extracted from this region will require further controls before it can exert a net climate benefit compared to coal.

SUBMITTER: Ren X

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5439486 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Methane emissions from the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia based on airborne measurements.

Ren Xinrong X Hall Dolly L DL Vinciguerra Timothy T Benish Sarah E SE Stratton Phillip R PR Ahn Doyeon D Hansford Jonathan R JR Cohen Mark D MD Sahu Sayantan S He Hao H Grimes Courtney C Salawitch Ross J RJ Ehrman Sheryl H SH Dickerson Russell R RR

Journal of geophysical research. Atmospheres : JGR 20170420 8

Natural gas production in the U.S. has increased rapidly over the past decade, along with concerns about methane (CH<sub>4</sub>) leakage (total fugitive emissions), and climate impacts. Quantification of CH<sub>4</sub> emissions from oil and natural gas (O&NG) operations is important for establishing scientifically sound, cost-effective policies for mitigating greenhouse gases. We use aircraft measurements and a mass balance approach for three flight experiments in August and September 2015 to ...[more]

PMID: 28603681

Similar Datasets

Project description:Unconventional oil and gas (UOG) extraction, also known as hydraulic fracturing, is becoming more prevalent with the increasing use and demand for natural gas; however, the full extent of its environmental impacts is still unknown. Here we measured physicochemical properties and bacterial community composition of sediment samples taken from twenty-eight streams within the Marcellus shale formation in northeastern Pennsylvania differentially impacted by hydraulic fracturing activities. Fourteen of the streams were classified as UOG+, and thirteen were classified as UOG- based on the presence of UOG extraction in their respective watersheds. One stream was located in a watershed that previously had UOG extraction activities but was recently abandoned. We utilized high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene to infer differences in sediment aquatic bacterial community structure between UOG+ and UOG- streams, as well as correlate bacterial community structure to physicochemical water parameters. Although overall alpha and beta diversity differences were not observed, there were a plethora of significantly enriched operational taxonomic units (OTUs) within UOG+ and UOG- samples. Our biomarker analysis revealed many of the bacterial taxa enriched in UOG+ streams can live in saline conditions, such as Rubrobacteraceae. In addition, several bacterial taxa capable of hydrocarbon degradation were also enriched in UOG+ samples, including Oceanospirillaceae. Methanotrophic taxa, such as Methylococcales, were significantly enriched as well. Several taxa that were identified as enriched in these samples were enriched in samples taken from different streams in 2014; moreover, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) revealed clustering between streams from the different studies based on the presence of hydraulic fracturing along the second axis. This study revealed significant differences between bacterial assemblages within stream sediments of UOG+ and UOG- streams and identified several potential biomarkers for evaluating and monitoring the response of autochthonous bacterial communities to potential hydraulic fracturing impacts.

Dataset Information

Methane emissions from the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia based on airborne measurements.

Publications

Methane emissions from the Marcellus Shale in southwestern Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia based on airborne measurements.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure