Kazakhstan: Methane mega-leak went on for months

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Kazakhstan: Methane mega-leak went on for months

15 February 2024

By Marco Silva, Daniele Palumbo, Erwan Rivault
BBC Verify

One of the worst methane leaks ever recorded took place last year at a remote well in Kazakhstan, new analysis shared with BBC Verify has shown.

It is estimated that 127,000 tonnes of the gas escaped when a blowout started a fire that raged for over six months.

Methane is much more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Buzachi Neft, the company that owns the well, denies a "substantial amount" of methane was leaked.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency's Greenhouse Gas Equivalency Calculator, the environmental impact of such a leak is comparable to that of driving more than 717,000 petrol cars for a year.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68166298

[hunter]

1. The 2015-2016 Aliso Canyon gas leak in Southern California was 97, 100 tonnes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliso_Canyon_gas_leak

Historically most gas leaks have been ignored or covered up unless they've caused loss of life and major property destruction.

Now that satellites can see these major gas leaks it's harder to cover them up.

We've got to quit pretending natural gas is a benign source of energy. It's not. There's enough natural gas in the ground to destroy what's left of the natural world as we know it and probably our civilization as well. Gas is not "better than coal" and it's not a good source of "backup energy" for our solar and wind follies.

We've to quit fossil fuels now, including natural gas.

[hatrack]

2. Equivalent to 3.556 million tons of CO2, per the same calculator

https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator