Impact of Periodic Leak Detection and Repair Programs on Methane Emissions Mitigation at Oil and Gas Facilities

Abstract:

Methane mitigation in the oil and gas industry is a crucial part of climate policy in several U.S. states and Canada. A common feature of methane regulations includes leak detection and repair (LDAR) programs using optical gas imaging (OGI) technology to reduce fugitive emissions. Though several recent studies have demonstrated the skewed emission-size distribution at oil and gas facilities, few have empirically tested the effectiveness of LDAR programs in reducing emissions.

In this study, we investigate the effectiveness of LDAR programs on fugitive methane reduction by tracking the spatial and temporal evolution of emissions. We conducted periodic (1/year, 2/year, 3/year) LDAR surveys at approximately 180 randomly selected oil and gas production sites in Alberta, Canada. All emissions (leaks and vents) were detected at the component-level with FLIR’s optical gas imaging (OGI) camera and quantified using Providence Photonics’ Quantitative OGI (QOGI) instrument.

Emissions reduced by 34% after each repair, on average, compared to 22% at control sites. At sites that are constantly repaired after each survey, emissions reduced by at least 42%. We also found that emissions reduction followed a skewed distribution pattern – less than 10% of sites contributed to over 50% of total emissions reduction, thus emphasizing the importance of finding and fixing high emitting-sites in a timely manner. We will also present the variation in the effectiveness of emissions reduction based on the time between surveys. The insights from this study add to our understanding of the near-term temporal variations in emissions and inform the development of cost-effective mitigation policies.