Closing the methane gap in US oil and gas production emissions inventories

In this study, the authors develop a new inventory-based model for methane emissions (production segment only) that agrees within error with recent syntheses of site-level field studies and allows for isolation of equipment-level contributions.Study suggests that unintentional emissions from liquid storage tanks and other equipment leaks are the largest contributors to divergence with the GHGI. If our proposed method were adopted in the United States and other jurisdictions, inventory estimates could better guide CH4 mitigation policy priorities.