Informing methane emissions inventories using facility aerial measurements at midstream natural gas facilities

Increased interest in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including recent legislative action and voluntary programs, has increased attention on quantifying, and ultimately reducing, methane emissions from the natural gas supply chain. While inventories used for public or corporate GHG policies have traditionally utilized bottom-up (BU) methods to estimate emissions, the validity of such inventories has been questioned. Therefore, there is attention on utilizing full-facility measurements using airborne, satellite or drone (top-down (TD)) techniques to inform, improve, or validate inventories. This study utilized full-facility estimates from two independent TD methods at 15 midstream natural gas facilities in the U.S.A., and were compared with a contemporaneous daily inventory assembled by the facility operator, employing comprehensive inventory methods. Estimates from the two TD methods statistically agreed in 2 of 28 paired measurements. Operator inventories, which included extensions to capture sources beyond regular inventory requirements and to integrate local measurements, estimated significantly lower emissions than the TD estimates for 40 of 43 paired comparisons. Significant disagreement is observed at most facilities, both between the two TD methods and between the TD estimates and operator inventory. These findings have two implications. Firstly, improving inventory estimates will require additional on-site or ground-based diagnostic screening and measurement of all sources. Secondly, the TD full-facility measurement methods need to undergo further testing, characterization, and potential improvement specifically tailored for complex midstream facilities.