2023-05-14 10:18:20
Romania is among the few member states of the European Union (EU) with considerable and active oil and natural gas production sites, and in May of last year emissions were identified in 14 sites throughout the chain – from production, storage – of the 20 analyzed, it emerges from a report published by the environmental NGO Clean Air Task Force, cited by 2Celsius.
oil probePhoto: Charlie Riedel/AP/Profimedia
The cited data reveal the fact that, in 2017, it was estimated that there were 13,000 active wells spread over 400 oil fields in Romania.
In 2021, the organization 2Celsius and the Clean Air Task Force (CATF) discovered serious problems in the oil and gas infrastructure in Romania, following monitoring 50 sites in southern Romania. A year later, in May, CATF returned to Romania and identified emissions in 14 sites throughout the chain (from production, storage) out of the 20 visited. For example, in Boldeşti, in addition to ventilation and torching, gases were observed coming from the ground, most likely from a broken pipe.
“Almost everywhere we go, we find methane. Up and down the chain and in all geographical areas, there is dangerous methane pollution coming out of Europe’s oil and gas network,” said Theophile Humann-Guilleminot, one of the certified thermographers of CATF monitoring fugitive methane emissions.
According to the specialist report, the observed emissions come mainly from storage tanks, emergency exhaust chimneys, unlit torches and pipes. At the same time, well malfunctions were observed in nine oil and gas producing countries (Austria, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom), the situation being the worst in Romania.
“Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change, and reducing its emissions is essential to meeting the EU’s climate goals. With the invasion of Ukraine and Europe’s need to diversify its oil and natural gas supply, methane has emerged , also as a major aspect of energy security. As the RePowerEU announcement showed, reducing methane leaks worldwide might help offset short-term energy shortfalls for Europe while reducing global emissions. The version on which was agreed by the relevant committees of Parliament on April 26. It was an important step forward. These included requirements for companies to monitor, report and verify (MRV), as well as to detect and repair methane leaks and limits on venting and flaring at flare (LVF) along the supply chain to extraction.At the same time, performance standards have been introduced for this sector and a total emissions reduction target to be set before 2026. Also included are world firsts: a methane performance standard of 0.2% or less and the extension of methane measures to oil and gas imported into the EU,” the document states.
Currently, the EU gas import market reaches over 51% of world production.
“Methane pollution from the energy sector is not only a climate problem, but also a huge waste of energy that can be exploited to help solve Europe’s current energy crisis. In the RePowerEU strategy, the Commission announced a program called ‘you collect, we buy’, which might be used to reduce the 210 billion cubic meters of gas that are wasted worldwide through flaring, venting and fugitive emissions. Methane is 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a period of 20 years and is responsible for 0.5°C of the warming the Earth has experienced to date.Because of its potency and short life compared to carbon dioxide, methane pollution reduction is the fastest way to slow down the rate of global warming”, say experts in the field.
The report drawn up by the Clean Air Task Force monitored over 430 oil and gas sites from 15 European countries, including Romania, with 881 emission sources documented, during the period February 2021 – 2023.
CATF is a global non-profit environmental organization of scientists, engineers, policy experts, lawyers and communications professionals working to protect once morest the worst effects of climate change, catalyzing rapid global development and the deployment of emerging energies and proven low-carbon and other climate protection technologies, to achieve the global goals of zero emissions by 2050.
In 2012, he was one of the initiators of the Coalition for Climate and Clean Air, the only international collaboration dedicated to reducing short-term climate pollutants.
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