More than ever, need to focus on biggest bang-for-buck solutions to climate.
Big fossil gas users have the power to hold Oil/gas players accountable for their emissions, as a condition to enter those markets, Europe, and now Japan and Korea have. “Access to Market” is a giant stick that could be wielded against intransigent actors – including those in the US that want very much to increase LNG exports to those economies.
Carl Pope in the New York Times:
Methane emissions come from surprising places. Researchers estimate that roughly half of those in U.S. oil fields come from wells that don’t produce significant amounts of oil or gas. Their owners often rely on equipment that is in disrepair or are just trying to avoid the costs of properly sealing them and shutting them down. We need to make it worth their while to act quickly.
A big source of methane emissions is the venting and flaring of gas at oil wells that don’t have pipeline connections to capture it.
But there are tools that can help. Installing an electric actuator on a pipeline can prevent leaks and costs only about $3,500. This can save enough methane a year to equal up to 33 barrels of oil. The recovered methane can be sold as natural gas.
In the Trump era, the U.S. government almost certainly won’t be helpful in this cleanup effort. The key players are methane consumers and importers: states such as New York, Illinois, Colorado and California and countries such as Japan, South Korea and those in the European Union. They should subsidize the oil industry to start aggressive cleanup of methane leaks in 2026 and 2027 and ensure that gas coming into their economies is certified to have next to no methane emissions.
Gas and oil produced with emissions need to be subject to fees, which can pay for loans for cleanup. That gives the oil industry both the funds to plug the leaks and the market incentives to keep their pipelines and ships that transport liquefied natural gas clean.
With each passing year, extreme weather does more damage to human communities. We are in an emergency now, and we must carry out the reforms that climate leaders like me should have prioritized years ago.
Methane emissions from Canada’s inactive oil and gas wells are up to seven times higher than government estimates, a new McGill study finds—with a relatively small number of high emitters responsible for most of the pollution.
The study analyzes the methane footprints of sites with non-producing wells across Canada, focusing on emissions from two sources: above-ground wellhead equipment, and surface casing vents (SVCs)—pipes designed to prevent the buildup of pressure within a wellbore. These sites emit an average of 230 kilotonnes of emissions each year, estimate the researchers, far more than the 34 kilotonnes reported in the federal government’s 2024 National Inventory Report (NIR). However, the study’s statistical uncertainty indicates that the actual number could be anywhere between 51 to 560 kilotonnes annually.
A few high-emitting wells dominate the emissions. “For example, one well can emit as much as 100 wells combined,” study co-author Jade Boutot, a PhD student in civil engineering, told CBC News, adding that those wells should be prioritized for remediation.
The McGill study’s wellhead emission estimate is about half the federal estimate, but estimates for SVC emissions are 16 times greater than NIR figures. It showed lower uncertainty than the NIR for wellhead emissions estimates, but comparatively higher uncertainty for SVC emissions.
Environment and Climate Change Canada said it is reviewing the research and may include it in a review of how it estimates methane emissions, reported CBC News.
Methane emissions from non-producing wells are difficult to estimate accurately in Canada and elsewhere due to limited direct measurements and uncertainty about the exact number of wells. In Canada, non-producing wells make up more than 70% of the total number of oil and gas wells.
But Canada’s 2024 NIR—which covered data as recent as 2022—reports 409,319 inactive wells, 15% fewer than the 471,276 wells the researchers counted. “Our well count is unlikely to be an overestimate, as it corresponds to the wells in government databases with unique identifiers,” write the researchers.
The most recent NIR released in 2025 using data from 2023, placed the total number of abandoned oil and gas wells at approximately 423,000.
OK, so reward them for using less gas by letting them…….sell more gas? In new markets where the brand new infrastructure will stiffen resistance to the transition for decades by threatening to become stranded assets, losing rich people lotsa money? Hmmmmm.
It’s a hard row to hoe, but I’d put more faith in peaceful revolution and removing them from power and money (interchangeable commodities in our society) then building what we really need.
Wind, solar, geothermal, batteries and PHS, public transit, trains, EVs, trains, electric arc furnaces, electric tractors, electric iceoatcream trucks, and trains.