COVID-19 Impact on the Oil and Gas Industry NO2 Emissions
A Case Study of the Permian Basin
R. Serrano Calvo (TU Delft - Atmospheric Remote Sensing)
J. P. Veefkind (TU Delft - Atmospheric Remote Sensing, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI))
B. Dix (University of Colorado)
Joost de Gouw (University of Colorado)
Pieternel Levelt (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), TU Delft - Atmospheric Remote Sensing, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research)
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Abstract
COVID-19 caused a historic collapse in fossil fuel demand, a general decline in economic activity, and hydrocarbon price volatility. This resulted in an unprecedented scenario to evaluate the contribution of the O&G (Oil and Gas) industry NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) emissions in the Permian basin (United States), currently the second largest hydrocarbon-bearing area on Earth. TROPOMI (Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument), on board the Sentinel-5P satellite, has captured the impact of the oil and gas industry emissions during the COVID-19 lockdown. A generalized drop (∼30%) of NO2 emissions derived using the divergence method in comparison with 2019 was observed following the decline in production and drilling (13% and 68% respectively) during the lockdown. NO2 tropospheric columns were less impacted with a smaller decrease (∼4%) across the basins. This study demonstrates that the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on NO2 emissions was not only present in urban areas but also in vast O&G production regions, which shows the potential of TROPOMI to assess future pollution mitigation strategies for this industry.