Several satellites recorded another large leak of methane from an offshore platform belonging to Mexico’s Pemex in August, according to exclusive data shared with Reuters, even as pressure mounts on the oil company to reduce these emissions.
Three satellites captured images of methane plumes in the Ku-Maloob-Zaap fields in the Gulf of Mexico for six days between August 5 and 29, said Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, a scientist at the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain).
During these days, some 44,064 tons of methane were released into the atmosphere from Zaap in another “ultra-emission”, the expert estimated, equivalent to 3.7 million tons of CO2. Reuters was unable to determine the cause of the leak, but specialists have raised concerns about the infrastructure.
A peer-reviewed research paper in June, in which Irakulis-Loitxate was the lead author, revealed a massive methane leak in December at the same oil asset, Mexico’s largest by production volume.
The work is part of a larger study funded by the European Space Agency to detect and quantify human emissions from space.
Pemex and the energy ministry did not respond to repeated requests for comment from Reuters. The Mexican government is under pressure to clean up operations at Pemex, which is struggling with an aging infrastructure.
Opposition senator Xóchitl Gálvez, with whom Reuters shared the findings, said she would file a complaint with a government watchdog and environmental regulators on the issue, as she did following the Reuters story in June about the earlier methane leak. .
“It’s really alarming what’s going on,” he said. “They should take away from Pemex the right to operate this oil field,” he claimed.
Natural gas that reaches the surface as a byproduct of oil exploration and production is routinely flared to reduce the harmful impact of methane on the environment, but direct release of methane on this scale is unusual and environmentally catastrophic. experts noted.
The release of natural gas directly into the atmosphere is illegal under Mexican law, it is only allowed when it is done for security reasons. Irakulis-Loitxate explained that Pemex had been releasing “large amounts of methane.”
“In December, the combustion went out and they were venting gas almost constantly for 17 days,” he explained. “This time, however, they have been intermittently venting and flaring throughout the month,” he added. The scientist said that the data does not establish if it has been solved.
During periods of gas venting, a fourth satellite that detects the radiation from the fire with daily data and helps supplement the information did not detect the radiation that the flares would have emitted, he said, confirming that the flare had gone out.
Pemex has not spoken publicly about the findings but two sources familiar with the operations confirmed to Reuters that the platform was having problems.
The proportion of natural gas that comes to the surface as a byproduct increases as older fields, such as those in the Gulf of Mexico, are depleted. According to oilfield geologists, this poses operational challenges and, as a result, more natural gas is wasted.
