Methane emission measurements of offshore oil and gas platforms

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas with an equivalent greenhouse warming potential of 25-35 of CO2 equivalents. There is an increasing regulatory effort to reduce methane emissions, including methane emissions from natural gas production. Oil and gas operators in the Netherlands report already for more than 20 years their annual methane emissions, using a combination of measurements, emission factors and process simulations. It appears that the reported emissions are significant lower than the assessment of the average loss of methane in oil and gas production worldwide. This has resulted in questions in the Dutch parliament in 2017 about the accuracy of the reported figures. The purpose of this measurement program is to independently assess whether the emissions as reported accordance to requirements (e-MJV) meets the results obtained via concentration measurements. The primary aim is to assess independently total methane emissions of both a selected group and that of a random group offshore oil and gas platforms in g/s by using concentration measurements at multiple distances from the source in combination with meteorological conditions and dispersion calculations.