Kuwait Says It Missed Methane Leak Spotted by Satellite

Kuwait’s state oil producer said its monitoring systems never registered a three-week methane leak that was observed by satellite last year, adding to a growing body of evidence that emissions of the super-warming greenhouse gas are being underreported worldwide.

Halting intentional and accidental releases of methane, the primary component of natural gas, could do more to slow climate change than almost any other single measure. When emitted directly into the air, it has more than 80 times the heat-trapping capacity of carbon dioxide during its first 20 years, and is responsible for about 30% of the Earth’s warming since pre-industrial times.

Yet many countries lack robust methane reporting requirements and scientists are only beginning to pinpoint the full extent of the challenge with the help of a new generation of satellites that are able to identify leaks and trace them to specific assets.

High-resolution images from the Sentinel-2 satellite analyzed by geoanalytics firm Kayrros SAS show seven distinct methane clouds over a 20-day period in October that appear to be coming from a burn pit associated with Kuwait’s Burgan oilfield. Burn pits are places where oil and gas can be piped to depressurize systems and avoid a dangerous buildup of the combustible fuels.

Kuwait Oil Co.’s surveillance system publishes data every five minutes to the country’s Environment Public Authority but the company said the three closest monitoring stations to the pit in question — located 7.5, 9 and 19 kilometers (11.8 miles) away — didn’t detect fluctuations exceeding the allowable limits.

“We don't have a methane detector at that particular place, but we have several up and downwind from the location,” Kuwait Oil Co. Chief Executive Officer Ahmad Al-Eidan told Bloomberg after reviewing the satellite images. “Through the whole month of October, they didn't report any leak.”

The findings reinforce concerns that global methane releases from oil and gas are more prevalent than many producers and governments disclose—in part because they may not fully grasp the extent of their own emissions. The energy industry is responsible for about 35% of global methane emissions generated from human activity, second only to agriculture.

Kuwait Petroleum Corp. is listed among 30 fossil fuel companies responsible for more than 40% of the methane discharged by the world’s energy sector, according to a November report from non-profit Global Energy Monitor. The company released an estimated 700,000 metric tons of methane in 2019, according to the analysis, which would have the same warming impact over a 20-year period as the annual emissions of roughly 12.8 million U.S. cars.

Kuwait Oil, a unit of Kuwait Petroleum, disputed those estimates and said its own emissions were below 10,000 metric tons in 2019 and had come down since.

Despite its planet-warming potency, efforts to reduce methane emissions have only come into focus in recent years. The Gulf Arab country is among 150 that have committed to slashing methane emissions 30% by the decade’s end from 2020 levels under the Global Methane Pledge.