Data analytics firm Kayrros released measurements quantifying total methane emissions across the Appalachian Basin claiming it places the region ahead of the Permian as the biggest source of methane in the U.S.

Emissions from fossil fuel production in the Appalachian Basin hit 3 million tons in 2019 and 2.4 million tons in 2020, Kayrros said in an April 22 release citing recent data derived from satellite data and proprietary algorithms. The firm estimates this is equivalent to the annual emissions of roughly 30 million cars given that the warming potential of methane is estimated at 84 times that of CO₂.

Further, while the methane footprint of the Appalachian Basin was found to be larger than that of the Permian in absolute terms, the firm estimates that 2020 methane intensity of gas production in Appalachia was lower than in both the Permian and Anadarko basins. 

“This is likely explained by the fact that Appalachian gas is ‘non-associated,’ meaning it’s the only hydrocarbon fuel produced in the basin,” Kayrros said in the release. “In the Permian Basin, it’s mainly associated with oil extraction, meaning that it comes as a by-product of oil production.”

Since the 19th century, the Appalachia region has been an important source of coal. However, more recently, the basin also became a major hub for natural gas production as it is home to the Marcellus and Utica shale plays.

“Hundreds of coal mines are intermingled with thousands of gas wells across the basin, which complicates the task of measuring total methane emissions and attributing them to their sources,” Kayrros said.

Harnessing satellite imagery and multiple sources of unconventional data with machine learning, natural language processing, and advanced mathematics, Kayrros monitors and measures energy and natural resource activity worldwide.

Kayrros was able to identify the primary sources behind its emissions in its latest findings on the Appalachian Basin by leveraging data from the EU’s Sentinel-5P and Sentinel-2 satellites, and advanced mathematics. The firm said this marks the first time that methane emissions from coal have been quantified in a comprehensive manner.

“Efficient and accurate leak detection is the first step toward their eradication, and therefore has substantive positive implications for operational standards and policy-making in the energy industry,” Kayrros said.

Methane emissions across both basins fell in 2020 largely due to the impact of the COVID pandemic on energy demand. Kayrros estimates Appalachia methane emissions fell by 20% in 2020 and by 26% in the Permian.

Excluding emissions from coal mines, emissions from natural gas from the Appalachian’s Marcellus Basin declined to 1.4 million tons in 2020 from 1.9 million tons in 2019. By comparison, Permian measurements showed methane emissions from oil and natural gas production declined to 2 million tons in 2020 from 2.7 million tons in 2019.

The variation in the percentage decreases can be traced to the differing energy mixes within each basin, which Kayrros said are consistent with estimates of U.S. emissions from oil and gas by the International Energy Agency and are materially higher than EPA estimates.

“The findings demonstrate that large methane emissions cannot simply be considered as an unavoidable side effect of production,” the firm continued, “but rather the avoidable consequence of various factors such as insufficient or poorly maintained infrastructure for natural gas gathering, processing and transportation.”

Following its success in the Appalachian Basin, Kayrros plans to use the same modeling approach to analyze major coal mining regions in Australia and China to study variations in methane intensity across different types of coal mined around the world.

“This is a new and important milestone in bringing transparency to energy and the environment,” the firm added.

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