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. 2024 Mar 6;8(3):e2023GH000938.
doi: 10.1029/2023GH000938. eCollection 2024 Mar.

Air Quality and Health Impacts of Onshore Oil and Gas Flaring and Venting Activities Estimated Using Refined Satellite-Based Emissions

Huy Tran  1 , Erin Polka  2 , Jonathan J Buonocore  2 , Ananya Roy  3 , Beth Trask  3 , Hillary Hull  3 , Saravanan Arunachalam  1
Affiliations

Air Quality and Health Impacts of Onshore Oil and Gas Flaring and Venting Activities Estimated Using Refined Satellite-Based Emissions

Huy Tran et al. Geohealth. .

Abstract

Emissions from flaring and venting (FV) in oil and gas (O&G) production are difficult to quantify due to their intermittent activities and lack of adequate monitoring and reporting. Given their potentially significant contribution to total emissions from the O&G sector in the United States, we estimate emissions from FV using Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite satellite observations and state/local reported data on flared gas volume. These refined estimates are higher than those reported in the National Emission Inventory: by up to 15 times for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), two times for sulfur dioxides, and 22% higher for nitrogen oxides (NOx). Annual average contributions of FV to ozone (O3), NO2, and PM2.5 in the conterminous U.S. (CONUS) are less than 0.15%, but significant contributions of up to 60% are found in O&G fields with FV. FV contributions are higher in winter than in summer months for O3 and PM2.5; an inverse behavior is found for NO2. Nitrate aerosol contributions to PM2.5 are highest in the Denver basin whereas in the Permian and Bakken basins, sulfate and elemental carbon aerosols are the major contributors. Over four simulated months in 2016 for the entire CONUS, FV contributes 210 additional instances of exceedances to the daily maximum 8-hr average O3 and has negligible contributions to exceedance of NO2 and PM2.5, given the current form of the national ambient air quality standards. FV emissions are found to cause over $7.4 billion in health damages, 710 premature deaths, and 73,000 asthma exacerbations among children annually.

Keywords: VIIRS; air quality; emissions; flaring and venting; health; oil and gas.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this study.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Combined NOX (top) and PM2.5 (bottom) emissions from FV as estimated from VIIRS and as derived from NEI 2017 point O&G (ptOG flare).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Annual emissions (tpy) of NOX, VOC, PM2.5, and SO2 from flaring and venting (FV).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Annual‐average of MDA8 Ozone (ppb), 24‐hr average PM2.5 (μg/m3), daily‐average and daily‐maximum NO2 (ppb), SO2 (ppb) contributed by FV (i.e., differences between wFlare2 and woFlare).
Figure 4
Figure 4
FV air pollution‐attributable deaths in 2016.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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