COVID-19 impact on Oil and Gas industry emissions: A case study of the Permian Basin (U.S.)

Raquel Serrano Calvo,  Delft University of Technology,  r.serranocalvo@tudelft.nl (Presenter)
Barbara Dix,  University of Colorado,  barbara.dix@colorado.edu
Joost De Gouw,  University of Colorado,  joost.degouw@colorado.edu
Pieternel Levelt,  Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute,  pieternel.levelt@knmi.nl
Pepijn Veefkind,  Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute,  pepijn.veefkind@knmi.nl

The historic collapse in fossil fuel demand due to restrictions on travel, the general decline in economic activity and the hydrocarbon price volatility, imposed by COVID-19, have resulted in an unprecedented scenario to evaluate the contribution of the oil and gas industry to air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S is currently the largest oil- and gas- producing country in the world, with the Permian basin being the second largest hydrocarbon-bearing area on Earth. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the Permian basin registered decreases of 13% in oil and gas production and 68% in drilling activities.

In this study, TROPOMI (Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument) on board the satellite Sentinel-5P has captured the impact of the oil and gas industry during the COVID-19 lockdown in NO₂ tropospheric columns. In the case of TROPOMI methane concentrations, the COVID-19 effect is not as evident as in the NO₂ concentrations due to the influence of its life time, the orography of the area and the background concentrations. Using the divergence method, NO₂ emissions were calculated monthly for the entire Permian basin and in detail for the different sub-basins of the region. The analysis showed a 30% decrease during the period April to June 2020. Cross correlations between NO₂ emissions, oil and gas production, and drilling activities returned positive results in 2019 and a decrease of this relationship from March 2020 to September 2020. To identify and quantify which of the different oil and gas activities in the Permian basin were causing the reduction of NO₂emissions in the Permian basin, a multicriteria data classification algorithm was applied. This revealed a clear decrease in emissions higher than 9.3e^-9 mole m²/s related to places where crude oil production and drilling activity coexisted. In result, this study demonstrates the implications of oil and gas activities to NO₂ and methane emissions.

Poster: Poster_Serrano_Calvo_0_96_25.pdf 

Presentation Type: Poster

Session: 3.2a Observations to quantify hot spots and local/urban emissions

Session Date: Wednesday (6/16) 9:45 AM