Quantifying methane emissions from the oil/gas sector in Mexico using TROPOMI satellite observations

Abstract:

We exploit the capability of satellite observations from the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) to map the atmospheric methane enhancements in eastern Mexico and quantify the emissions through a comprehensive atmospheric inverse analysis. Eastern Mexico covers the vast majority of production areas in the entire country, responsible for >95% of the national oil and gas production. Using TROPOMI measurements from May 2018 to December 2019, our posterior estimates for the eastern Mexico are 5.5±0.7 Tg a^-1 for anthropogenic sources and 1.3±0.2 Tg a^-1 for natural sources, representing 50% and 15% higher annual methane flux compared available bottom-up inventories. Our posterior emissions estimate from oil and natural gas infrastructure is 1.9±0.2 Tg a^-1—two times higher than the inventory, and accounting for a third of the net anthropogenic emissions from the region. As part of this work, we also provide regional emission estimates from several oil/gas production hotspots and examine the role of flaring as a key source influencing emissions across these hotspots. Our results provide an independent quantitative data on methane emissions, derived from satellite observations and atmospheric inverse modeling, covering the vast majority of oil/gas production sources from Mexico. Our findings suggest that stronger mitigation measures—in line with recent federal oil and gas methane regulations—may be critical to curbing the anthropogenic footprint of methane emissions from Mexico.