the Satellite helped to identify the leakage of gas in the Permian oil and gas basin is the largest hydrocarbon deposits of North America. Its territory covers the States of Texas, new Mexico and Oklahoma.
using data obtained from the satellite Sentinel-5 Precursor, the scientists found that increased concentration of methane in the lower atmosphere over the southern States of the USA is caused by leakage from the Permian basin. The reasons for this are explained in publication in the journal Science Advances.
As specified by experts, environmental monitoring of the basin is complicated for legal reasons. At the same time, we know that it produces more than a third of us crude oil and ten percent of the country’s natural gas.
Scientists under the leadership of Yuzhong Zhang from Harvard in 2018 analyzed the data received from the satellite Sentinel-5 Precursor, equipped with tool monitoring in the troposphere showed an increase of methane concentration over the southern territory of the United States. The researchers continued monitoring until March 2019, registering a total emissions of methane from the Permian basin, amounting to nearly five per cent of the gas produced here, which is 60 percent more than the average leakage for other deposits of the United States.
the Reason for this situation, the authors believe a poorly developed infrastructure of oil production in this area. Scientists suggest to refuse the flare of the method of gas flaring, which is called “dirty” because of its serious environmental hazard.
