the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Satellite quantification of methane emissions and oil/gas methane intensities from individual countries in the Middle East and North Africa: implications for climate action
Abstract. We use 2019 TROPOMI satellite observations of atmospheric methane in an analytical inversion to quantify methane emissions from the Middle East and North Africa at up to ~25 km × 25 km resolution, using spatially allocated national UNFCCC reports as prior estimates for the fuel sector. Our resulting best estimate of anthropogenic emissions for the region is 35 % higher than the prior bottom-up estimate (+103 % for gas, +53 % for waste, +49 % for livestock, −14 % for oil) with large variability across countries. Oil and gas account for 38 % of total anthropogenic emissions in the region. TROPOMI observations can effectively optimize and separate national emissions by sector for most of the 23 countries in the region, with 6 countries accounting for most of total anthropogenic emissions including Iran (5.3 (5.0–5.5) Tg a−1; best estimate and uncertainty range), Turkmenistan (4.4 (2.8–5.1) Tg a−1), Saudi Arabia (4.3 (2.4–6.0) Tg a−1), Algeria (3.5 (2.4–4.4) Tg a−1), Egypt (3.4 (2.5–4.0) Tg a−1) , and Turkey (3.0 (2.0–4.1) Tg a−1). Most oil/gas emissions are from the production (upstream) subsector, but Iran, Turkmenistan, and Saudi Arabia have large gas emissions from transmission and distribution subsectors. We identify a high number of annual oil/gas emission hotspots in Turkmenistan, Algeria, Oman, and offshore in the Persian Gulf. We show that oil/gas methane emissions for individual countries are not related to production, invalidating a basic premise in the construction of activity-based bottom-up inventories. Instead, local infrastructure and management practices appear to be key drivers of oil/gas emissions, emphasizing the need for including top-down information from atmospheric observations in the construction of oil/gas emission inventories. We examined the methane intensity, defined as the upstream oil/gas emission per unit of methane gas produced, as a measure of the potential for decreasing emissions from the oil/gas sector, and using as reference the 0.2 % target set by industry. We find that the methane intensity in most countries is considerably higher than this target, reflecting leaky infrastructure combined with deliberate venting or incomplete flaring of gas. However, we also find that Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar meet the industry target and thus show that the target is achievable through capture of associated gas, modern infrastructure, and concentration of operations. Decreasing methane intensities across the Middle East and North Africa to 0.2 % would achieve a 90 % decrease in oil/gas upstream emissions and a 26 % decrease of total anthropogenic methane emissions in the region, making a significant contribution toward the Global Methane Pledge.
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Notice on discussion status
The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.
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Preprint
(2862 KB)
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Supplement
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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.
- Preprint
(2862 KB) - Metadata XML
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Supplement
(133 KB) - BibTeX
- EndNote
- Final revised paper
Journal article(s) based on this preprint
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
- RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-1504', Lena Höglund-Isaksson, 30 Jan 2023
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CC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-1504', Nathan Malarich, 28 Feb 2023
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2022-1504/egusphere-2022-1504-CC1-supplement.pdf
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RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-1504', Amy Townsend-Small, 11 Mar 2023
This is a very interesting and useful paper! I learned a lot by reading it. I have a few questions/comments.
Line 148/Figures 2 and 3 - Here you say Iraq, Algeria and Oman have not reported their emissions to UNFCCC since 2000 but what about Libya and Iran? I know their UNFCCC status and Paris Agreement participation is tenuous. I guess in general it would be interesting to know more about the inventories these countries report! As you refer to, this has implications for the Global Stocktake. I realize this is a minimal aspect of your paper but some of these countries are struggling to make an accurate inventory, and your paper could help here.
Line 384: Here my previous point comes up again. Do Iran and Libya report emissions to UNFCCC? What about Iraq, where does that bottom-up inventory come from? We know Iraq has some of the highest levels of venting and flaring from satellite observations, but I'm not sure how well they are accounting for these emissions.
Line 437: Interesting that Iran may have higher than expected emissions from livestock and waste. I wonder what their cattle/other ruminant head count is?
Line 476: I know Turkey also has a lot of reservoirs? Â https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_Anatolia_Project
Line 498: A study (by one of you) also showed that older marginal wells are a major contributor to methane emissions: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29709-3. I have wondered how many marginal wells there are in some of these countries?
Line 555: Doesn't Qatar do a lot of flaring in the North Field? (Zhan Zhang et al 2021 Environ. Res. Lett. 16 124039). This reduces methane emissions but it creates another problem.
Line 643: Can the bottom-up inventory be included in the supplement?
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Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1504-RC2 - AC1: 'Response to RC1, RC2, and CC1', Zichong Chen, 29 Mar 2023
Interactive discussion
Status: closed
- RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-1504', Lena Höglund-Isaksson, 30 Jan 2023
-
CC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-1504', Nathan Malarich, 28 Feb 2023
The comment was uploaded in the form of a supplement: https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2023/egusphere-2022-1504/egusphere-2022-1504-CC1-supplement.pdf
-
RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2022-1504', Amy Townsend-Small, 11 Mar 2023
This is a very interesting and useful paper! I learned a lot by reading it. I have a few questions/comments.
Line 148/Figures 2 and 3 - Here you say Iraq, Algeria and Oman have not reported their emissions to UNFCCC since 2000 but what about Libya and Iran? I know their UNFCCC status and Paris Agreement participation is tenuous. I guess in general it would be interesting to know more about the inventories these countries report! As you refer to, this has implications for the Global Stocktake. I realize this is a minimal aspect of your paper but some of these countries are struggling to make an accurate inventory, and your paper could help here.
Line 384: Here my previous point comes up again. Do Iran and Libya report emissions to UNFCCC? What about Iraq, where does that bottom-up inventory come from? We know Iraq has some of the highest levels of venting and flaring from satellite observations, but I'm not sure how well they are accounting for these emissions.
Line 437: Interesting that Iran may have higher than expected emissions from livestock and waste. I wonder what their cattle/other ruminant head count is?
Line 476: I know Turkey also has a lot of reservoirs? Â https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeastern_Anatolia_Project
Line 498: A study (by one of you) also showed that older marginal wells are a major contributor to methane emissions: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29709-3. I have wondered how many marginal wells there are in some of these countries?
Line 555: Doesn't Qatar do a lot of flaring in the North Field? (Zhan Zhang et al 2021 Environ. Res. Lett. 16 124039). This reduces methane emissions but it creates another problem.
Line 643: Can the bottom-up inventory be included in the supplement?
Â
Â
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1504-RC2 - AC1: 'Response to RC1, RC2, and CC1', Zichong Chen, 29 Mar 2023
Peer review completion
Journal article(s) based on this preprint
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Zichong Chen
Daniel J. Jacob
Ritesh Gautam
Mark Omara
Robert N. Stavins
Robert C. Stowe
Hannah O. Nesser
Melissa P. Sulprizio
Alba Lorente
Daniel J. Varon
Lu Shen
Drew C. Pendergrass
Sarah Hancock
The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.
- Preprint
(2862 KB) - Metadata XML
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Supplement
(133 KB) - BibTeX
- EndNote
- Final revised paper