KazakhstanUsing satellite data, experts recorded the largest methane leak from a well, releasing 131,000 tons over 205 days.
An international team of scientists led by Luis Guanter, professor at the Polytechnic University of Valencia and head of the LARS team at the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering, recorded the largest methane leak from a well in history, SciTechDaily reported on July 19. The leaking well is located at the Karaturun Vostochny mine, Kazakhstan.
In new research in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Lettersthe team of scientists quantified and monitored the development of this huge amount of methane by combining data from several satellites such as TROPOMI, GHGSat, PRISMA, EnMAP, EMIT, and from the multispectral radiometers Landsat and Sentinel-2.
The leak caused a 10-meter-high fire and a 15-meter-wide crater, far exceeding previous events at Aliso Canyon in 2015, Ohio in 2018 and Louisiana in 2019.
The leak at the Karaturun Vostochny field began on June 9, 2023, when an explosion occurred during exploratory drilling. An earlier estimate put the event at around 127,000 tons of methane. But in the new study, scientists concluded that the well released around 131,000 tons of methane into the atmosphere over 205 days. Thousands of tons of water were pumped in to plug the well. The gas was finally stopped on December 25, 2023, by pumping drilling mud, according to Luis Guanter, a researcher at the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering.
In the study, the team developed new data processing methods. These optimizations included implementing a custom filter to detect plumes and implementing methane quantification models for the hyperspectral instrument. Advanced satellite technology plays a key role in detecting and quantifying methane releases, especially in remote, hard-to-observe areas.
The research team stressed that the world needs continuous and accurate monitoring to reduce the environmental impact of industrial activities such as oil and gas extraction. “Natural gas is an important energy source, but it is also a greenhouse gas that contributes to one-third of global warming because it contains more than 90% methane. The difference compared to CO2 is that it has a larger impact in the short term. Therefore, we need to act at the source and reduce emissions,” they concluded.