Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: Foulds, Amy, Allen, Grant, Shaw, Jacob T., Bateson, Prudence, Barker, Patrick A., Huang, Langwen, Pitt, Joseph R., Lee, James D., Wilde, Shona E., Dominutti, Pamela, Purvis, Ruth M., Lowry, David, France, James L., Fisher, Rebecca E., Fiehn, Alina, Pühl, Magdalena, Bauguitte, S. J. B., Conley, Stephen A., Smith, Mackenzie L., Lachlan-Cope, Tom, Pisso, Ignacio, Schwietzke, Stefan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2022
• Subjects: Atmosphärische Spurenstoffe; Norwegian Sea
• Online Access: https://elib.dlr.de/186020/; https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/22/4303/2022/

We measured CH4 emissions from 21 offshore oil and gas facilities in the Norwegian Sea in 2019. Measurements compared well with operator-reported emissions but were greatly underestimated when compared with a 2016 global fossil fuel inventory. This study demonstrates the need for up-to-date and accurate inventories for use in research and policy and the important benefits of best-practice reporting methods by operators. Airborne measurements are an effective tool to validate such inventories.