Natural gas has been lauded as a more efficient fuel than coal for fueling power plants, thus resulting in lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per unit of energy produced. However, methane (CH4), the main component of natural gas, is 28 times more potent a greenhouse gas than CO2 over time. Varying reports have looked at the climate impacts  from these gasses and operations.

Findings

The Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado Boulder, took advanced measurements using research aircraft to determine methane emissions from the Haynesville, Fayetteville, and Marcellus regions. The total volume of natural gas extracted in each region was then determined to derive a loss rate from the production operations.  Looking at each region:

• In the Fayetteville region of  Arkansas, there were about 43 tons/hour or 1.0-2.8 percent of production loss.
• In the Haynesville region of eastern Texas/northwestern Louisiana, there were about 88 tons/hour or 1.0-2.1 percent of production loss
• In the Marcellus Region of northeastern Pennsylvania, there were about 16.5 tons/hour or 0.18-0.41 percent of production loss.

Federal estimates indicate approximately 1 percent of production loss.

The research is beneficial in providing regional variation in methane emissions.  The gas fields studied, at the time of data collection, represented over half of the US Shale production, and generally showed a lower loss rate than reported in earlier studies of other regions that made smaller contributions to total production.