Heimerl Joseph, Malki Mohamed L, Mehana Mohamed
Los Alamos National Lab, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, United States.
Los Alamos National Lab, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, United States.
Environ Res. 2023 Nov 1;236(Pt 1):116729. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116729. Epub 2023 Jul 26.
Burning associated gas has been a prevailing problem across the world for decades. This practice consumes billions of (US) dollars' worth of valuable natural gas, contributes billions of metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO) to the atmosphere, and releases volatile chemicals to nearby communities. To assess the prevalence of wellbore flaring within the Intermountain West (I-West) region, we analyzed data from the Nightfire project and contrasted it with wellbore surface hole locations. Consequently, we will permit the analysis of the flare data on a geospatial scale and compare it with operator self-reported flaring volumes. Through this analysis, we found that New Mexico is by far the largest flaring state in the I-West region, with most of its flare gas coming from the Permian Basin. Additionally, we found that satellite data estimated volumes that were 165% larger than those self-reported by the operators. Although some of this could be an overestimation from the Nightfire project, the size of the discrepancy indicates that there may be an underestimation of flared volumes that operators report to the state. A better understanding of the discrepancy source can be identified by linking the satellite flare volume to individual wells and operators, and potential solutions may be implemented to assist New Mexico's recent waste laws in reducing Permian flared volumes. We also proposed economic solutions that could substantially reduce the flared volume through flare gas utilization through on-site processing, the construction of small spur lines, and the development of a local sink for methane.
几十年来，伴生气燃烧一直是一个全球性的普遍问题。这种做法消耗了价值数十亿美元的宝贵天然气，向大气中排放了数十亿吨二氧化碳，并向附近社区释放挥发性化学物质。为了评估美国西部山间地区（I-西部）油井火炬燃烧的普遍程度，我们分析了来自Nightfire项目的数据，并将其与油井地面井口位置进行对比。因此，我们将能够在地理空间尺度上分析火炬数据，并将其与运营商自行报告的火炬燃烧量进行比较。通过这项分析，我们发现新墨西哥州是I-西部地区迄今为止火炬燃烧量最大的州，其大部分火炬气来自二叠纪盆地。此外，我们发现卫星数据估算的燃烧量比运营商自行报告的燃烧量高出165%。虽然其中部分可能是Nightfire项目的高估，但差异的大小表明运营商向该州报告的火炬燃烧量可能被低估了。通过将卫星火炬燃烧量与各个油井和运营商联系起来，可以更好地确定差异来源，并可能实施潜在的解决方案，以协助新墨西哥州近期的废弃物法律减少二叠纪地区的火炬燃烧量。我们还提出了经济解决方案，通过现场处理利用火炬气、建设小型支线管道以及开发当地的甲烷汇集地，大幅减少火炬燃烧量。
