Quantifying national, state, and oil/gas field methane emissions and trends in the U.S. (2019–2024) through high resolution inversion of satellite observations

Abstract. We quantify trends of U.S. methane emissions at the national, state, and oil/gas field levels for 2019–2024 through high-resolution (up to ~25 km) analytical inversion of TROPOMI satellite observations with the open-source Integrated Methane Inversion (IMI 2.1). We find that total anthropogenic methane emissions (37 Tg a^-1) are 34 % higher in magnitude than reported in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Greenhouse Gas Inventory (GHGI) that provided prior estimates for the inversion. Oil/gas emissions are 64 % higher than the GHGI, consistent with previous studies. Total emissions are flat over the 2019–2024 period (0.0 ± 1.0 % a^-1) but this total reflects a combination of decreasing emissions from the oil/gas (-1.1 ± 0.9 % a^-1), coal (-2.3 ± 1.3 % a^-1), and rice (-9.1 % ± 2.0 a^-1) sectors, offset by increases in the livestock (1.8 ± 1.3 % a^-1) and landfill (0.5 ± 1.4 % a^-1) sectors. The methane intensity from the oil/gas sector continues its downward trend, from 2.3 % to 1.9 % over the 2019–2024 period, but unlike in previous studies we find that this trend does not simply reflect an increase in production but also a decrease in emissions, demonstrating improved emission management. Over half of total U.S. emissions originate from ten states, most dominated by fuel exploitation. Emission inventories compiled by individual states do not always improve on GHGI state estimates. Methane intensities decrease for all major oil/gas fields except those with declining production.