Source: Houston Chronicle
An environmental advocacy group announced it will launch a new effort in the Permian Basin to measure emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas released during natural gas production and linked to global warming.
Photo: MICHAEL STRAVATO, STR / NYT
New York-based Environmental Defense Fund said it would use monitoring technologies to determine how much methane is escaping from the Permian Basin, one of the world’s largest oil and gas producing regions. Monitors will be installed both on the ground and in the air over the year-long study, according to the group.
Data will be available for public use. Field measurements are expected to begin in November and the first data release is scheduled for early next year.
Nearly five million barrels of oil is produced each day in the Permian basin which spans 86,000 square miles in West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico but most methane emissions are not measured, according to the fund.
