Methane measurement technologies continue to advance, with each new study sharpening our picture of where emissions are coming from and how best to find them. In this edition, we cover six recent studies spanning national and state-level satellite inversions, a new global infrastructure database, multi-technology field comparisons in Alberta, inventory benchmarking, inactive well surveys in Western Canada, and continuous monitoring network optimization. Collectively, these papers reinforce a consistent message: reported inventories continue to underestimate real-world emissions, and combining complementary measurement approaches remains the most effective path forward.
Satellite Quantification of Methane Emissions in the US
TROPOMI satellite data is analyzed for 2019-2024 methane emission trends in the US. Over half of the emissions in the US are found to come from ten states: Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, Ohio, Kansas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Illinois, and Colorado, with Texas alone contributing 18% of man-made methane emissions. This work finds oil and gas emissions to be 64% higher than reported in the EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory. The authors state that satellite inversion plays an increasingly critical role in US methane monitoring here.
Global Database of Methane Emitting Infrastructure
Machine learning is applied to public infrastructure databases and satellite imagery to develop a global database of methane emitting infrastructure. The database, Methane Tracking Emissions Reference (METER), covers more than 200 countries with a total of more than 12.3 million locations of methane emitting infrastructure. This includes more than 170,000 new well pads globally. The authors conclude with the recommendation to prioritize finding and reducing super-emitters here.
Methane Measurement Technologies Compared
Vehicle, aerial, and Quantitative Optical Gas Imaging (QOGI) methane measurements are compared in the Sundre region (Alberta). In the 302 sites investigated, vehicle-based systems had the highest detection frequency, followed by aerial, with QOGI having the lowest detection frequencies. The authors found the different methods complementary, and by overlaying all three emissions profiles generated a more complete inventory than any of the technologies alone. Employing vehicle-based methods for screening with aerial follow up for taller sources is recommended here.
Methane Inventories Benchmarked Against Satellite Data
The EPA Greenhouse Gas Inventory, European world GHG inventory (EDGAR 2024), and NOAA Fossil Fuel Oil and Gas Inventory are compared against satellite flux-based estimates from 2012-2020 over the US (GOSAT data). Despite finding substantial differences between the various methods, the authors find no significant trends during the study period. Based on their results, the authors describe the need for targeted measurement campaigns, particularly in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana, here.
Vehicle-Based Measurements of Inactive Wells
15,000 measurements of inactive oil and gas wells in Alberta and Saskatchewan are analyzed. The most significant emission sources are found to be suspended gas wells in the Red Deer area and heavy oil sites near the AB/SK border. The authors report that vehicle-based surveys can detect emissions from isolated suspended well sites. Results are reported as supportive of proposed amendments to federal oil and gas regulations here.
Optimization of Continuous Monitoring Systems
Seeking to enhance efficiency of methane detection, information theory is used to model performance of sensor deployment in construction of continuous monitoring systems. The optimized layout is validated at Colorado State University’s Methane Emissions Technology Evaluation Center (METEC) facility. The optimized layout is found to improve detection coverage by 23.8% over uniformly distributed sensors. The authors report that adding sensors improves performance more than improving individual detection thresholds here.
