Articles | Volume 21, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3741-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3741-2021
Research article
 | 
12 Mar 2021
Research article |  | 12 Mar 2021

Speciation of VOC emissions related to offshore North Sea oil and gas production

Shona E. Wilde, Pamela A. Dominutti, Grant Allen, Stephen J. Andrews, Prudence Bateson, Stephane J.-B. Bauguitte, Ralph R. Burton, Ioana Colfescu, James France, James R. Hopkins, Langwen Huang, Anna E. Jones, Tom Lachlan-Cope, James D. Lee, Alastair C. Lewis, Stephen D. Mobbs, Alexandra Weiss, Stuart Young, and Ruth M. Purvis

Related authors

Flaring efficiencies and NOx emission ratios measured for offshore oil and gas facilities in the North Sea
Jacob T. Shaw, Amy Foulds, Shona Wilde, Patrick Barker, Freya A. Squires, James Lee, Ruth Purvis, Ralph Burton, Ioana Colfescu, Stephen Mobbs, Samuel Cliff, Stéphane J.-B. Bauguitte, Stuart Young, Stefan Schwietzke, and Grant Allen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1491–1509, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1491-2023,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1491-2023, 2023
Short summary
Quantification and assessment of methane emissions from offshore oil and gas facilities on the Norwegian continental shelf
Amy Foulds, Grant Allen, Jacob T. Shaw, Prudence Bateson, Patrick A. Barker, Langwen Huang, Joseph R. Pitt, James D. Lee, Shona E. Wilde, Pamela Dominutti, Ruth M. Purvis, David Lowry, James L. France, Rebecca E. Fisher, Alina Fiehn, Magdalena Pühl, Stéphane J. B. Bauguitte, Stephen A. Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Ignacio Pisso, and Stefan Schwietzke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4303–4322, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4303-2022, 2022
Short summary
Facility level measurement of offshore oil and gas installations from a medium-sized airborne platform: method development for quantification and source identification of methane emissions
James L. France, Prudence Bateson, Pamela Dominutti, Grant Allen, Stephen Andrews, Stephane Bauguitte, Max Coleman, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Rebecca E. Fisher, Langwen Huang, Anna E. Jones, James Lee, David Lowry, Joseph Pitt, Ruth Purvis, John Pyle, Jacob Shaw, Nicola Warwick, Alexandra Weiss, Shona Wilde, Jonathan Witherstone, and Stuart Young
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 71–88, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-71-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-71-2021, 2021
Short summary
UK surface NO2 levels dropped by 42 % during the COVID-19 lockdown: impact on surface O3
James D. Lee, Will S. Drysdale, Doug P. Finch, Shona E. Wilde, and Paul I. Palmer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15743–15759, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15743-2020,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15743-2020, 2020
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Observation and modeling of atmospheric OH and HO2 radicals at a subtropical rural site and implications for secondary pollutants
Zhouxing Zou, Tianshu Chen, Qianjie Chen, Weihang Sun, Shichun Han, Zhuoyue Ren, Xinyi Li, Wei Song, Aoqi Ge, Qi Wang, Xiao Tian, Chenglei Pei, Xinming Wang, Yanli Zhang, and Tao Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8147–8161, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8147-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8147-2025, 2025
Short summary
Tracing elevated abundance of CH2Cl2 in the subarctic upper troposphere to the Asian Summer Monsoon
Markus Jesswein, Valentin Lauther, Nicolas Emig, Peter Hoor, Timo Keber, Hans-Christoph Lachnitt, Linda Ort, Tanja Schuck, Johannes Strobel, Ronja Van Luijt, C. Michael Volk, Franziska Weyland, and Andreas Engel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8107–8126, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8107-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8107-2025, 2025
Short summary
Carbonyl compounds from typical combustion sources: emission characteristics, influencing factors, and their contribution to ozone formation
Yanjie Lu, Xinxin Feng, Yanli Feng, Minjun Jiang, Yu Peng, Tian Chen, and Yingjun Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8043–8059, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8043-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8043-2025, 2025
Short summary
Formation drivers and photochemical effects of ClNO2 in a coastal city of Southeast China
Gaojie Chen, Xiaolong Fan, Haichao Wang, Yee Jun Tham, Ziyi Lin, Xiaoting Ji, Lingling Xu, Baoye Hu, and Jinsheng Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7815–7828, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7815-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7815-2025, 2025
Short summary
Significant influence of oxygenated volatile organic compounds on atmospheric chemistry: a case study in a typical industrial city in China
Jingwen Dai, Kun Zhang, Yanli Feng, Xin Yi, Rui Li, Jin Xue, Qing Li, Lishu Shi, Jiaqiang Liao, Yanan Yi, Fangting Wang, Liumei Yang, Hui Chen, Ling Huang, Jiani Tan, Yangjun Wang, and Li Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7467–7484, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7467-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7467-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Abeleira, A., Pollack, I. B., Sive, B., Zhou, Y., Fischer, E. V., and Farmer, D. K.: Source characterization of volatile organic compounds in the Colorado Northern Front Range Metropolitan Area during spring and summer 2015, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 122, 3595–3613, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jd026227, 2017. a
Atkinson, R.: Gas-Phase Tropospheric Chemistry of Volatile Organic Compounds: 1. Alkanes and Alkenes, J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, 26, 215–290, https://doi.org/10.1063/1.556012, 1997. a
Atkinson, R. and Arey, J.: Atmospheric Degradation of Volatile Organic Compounds, Chem. Rev., 103, 4605–4638, https://doi.org/10.1021/cr0206420, 2003. a
Atkinson, R. and Aschmann, S. M.: Rate constants for the reactions of O3 and OH radicals with a series of alkynes, Int. J. Chem. Kinet., 16, 259–268, https://doi.org/10.1002/kin.550160308, 1984. a
Ayers, G.: Comment on regression analysis of air quality data, Atmos. Environ., 35, 2423–2425, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(00)00527-6, 2001. a
Download
Short summary
We use airborne measurements to evaluate the speciation of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from offshore oil and gas (O&G) installations in the North Sea. The composition of emissions varied across regions associated with either gas, condensate or oil extraction, demonstrating that VOC emissions are not uniform across the whole O&G sector. We compare our results to VOC source profiles in the UK emissions inventory, showing these emissions are not currently fully characterized.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint