Policy Implications for Satellite-Based Methane Detection

摘要

Methane emissions pose a serious threat to global climate, and therefore to the oil and gas industry. They result from faults in design and operation of complex industrial systems that reach from the wellhead in oil and gas producing regions to the burner tip in industrial installations, residential kitchens and other end-use locations. Methane emissions can come in the form of routine, low-level leakage, but also as intermittent super-emissions, which often go undetected for a period of time due to the pernicious combination of inadequate methane emissions detection systems and inadequate regulatory and/or financial incentives. The power of methane as a greenhouse gas, and methane's comparatively short atmospheric lifetime, mean that it is vital to eliminate - or at least control much more effectively - methane emissions. The climate benefits of doing so are compelling.