U.S. Methane Emissions 70% Higher Than EPA Estimates

EnergyWire

April 18, 2023

EPA has underestimated methane emissions from oil and gas production by an average of 70 percent, or 6.1 million tons, over the past decade, scientists said on Monday.

During the same period, however, the United States has seen a decline in methane intensity, or the amount of methane emissions released relative to the amount of oil or gas produced, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“What we have found is methane emissions have been going up and down, but with improvements in the efficiency of the industry, methane intensity has improved over the past decade,” said Daniel Jacob, an atmospheric scientist at Harvard University and one of the main authors of the study.

The Harvard study found that oil and gas production emitted 14.8 million tons of methane a year from 2010 through 2019, while EPA put that number at 8.7 million tons.