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A Direct Measurement Study of Air Emissions from Oil & Natural Gas Production Pads in the DJ Basin
Citation:
Eisele, A. AND E. Thoma. A Direct Measurement Study of Air Emissions from Oil & Natural Gas Production Pads in the DJ Basin. Air Quality and Oil and Gas Development in the Rocky Mountain Region, Boulder, CO, October 21 - 22, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
This is an abstract for a poster presentation (separately cleared) to be given at a workshop on “Air Quality and Oil and Gas Development in the Rocky Mountain Region” to be held in Boulder, CO on October 21–22, 2013.
Description:
EPA and industry cooperators conducted a one-week emission measurement study of 23 oil and natural gas well pads in the Denver-Julesburg Basin in July, 2011. The purpose of the study was to characterize emissions from individual production components and to evaluate the performance of a commercial high-flow emissions measurement instrument in wet-gas environments. An infrared camera survey was first conducted on each well pad to identify emitting components. The identified leaks or vented emissions were then measured using the high-flow instrument to determine volumetric emission rates. This study did not include an evaluation of combustion device emissions. A total of 100 emitting components were measured with the following defined subgroup breakdown (43% thief hatch, 11% pressure relief device, 16% produced water tank, 17% separator-related, 3% well-related, and 10% other components). Evacuated canister samples were acquired at the output of the high-flow instrument on a subset of emitting components (n=33) to produce speciated methane and VOC profiles for subgroups and to compare and correct combustible concentration sensor readings from the high-flow instrument. An overall instantaneous VOC site emision rate was determined and compared with condensate production rates for each well pad; however, no correlation was evident. This may indicate that the component leaks and the efficacy of emissions control systems play a large role in actual observed emissions and may be an important factor affecting inventory accuracies (require further study). Measurement limitations of the high-flow instrument in wet gas environments were observed and will be discussed.