Concurrent variation in oil and gas methane emissions and  oil price during the COVID-19 pandemic

Lyon, David R.; Hmiel, Benjamin; Gautam, Ritesh; Omara, Mark; Roberts, Katherine A.; Barkley, Zachary R.; Davis, Kenneth J.; Miles, Natasha L.; Monteiro, Vanessa C.; Richardson, Scott J.; Conley, Stephen; Smith, Mackenzie L.; Jacob, Daniel J.; Shen, Lu; Varon, Daniel J.; Deng, Aijun; Rudelis, Xander; Sharma, Nikhil; Story, Kyle T.; Brandt, Adam R.; Kang, Mary; Kort, Eric A.; Marchese, Anthony J.; Hamburg, Steven P.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021

Articles | Volume 21, issue 9

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6605-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 21, issue 9

Research article

|

03 May 2021

Research article |

| 03 May 2021

Concurrent variation in oil and gas methane emissions and oil price during the COVID-19 pandemic

David R. Lyon, Benjamin Hmiel, Ritesh Gautam, Mark Omara, Katherine A. Roberts, Zachary R. Barkley, Kenneth J. Davis, Natasha L. Miles, Vanessa C. Monteiro, Scott J. Richardson, Stephen Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, Daniel J. Jacob, Lu Shen, Daniel J. Varon, Aijun Deng, Xander Rudelis, Nikhil Sharma, Kyle T. Story, Adam R. Brandt, Mary Kang, Eric A. Kort, Anthony J. Marchese, and Steven P. Hamburg

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Final revised paper (published on 03 May 2021)
Preprint (discussion started on 11 Dec 2020)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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RC1: 'Comments on Lyon et al: Concurrent variation....', Anonymous Referee #1, 11 Jan 2021
- AC1: 'Author's Response: Reply to RC1 and RC2 plus additional updates', David Lyon, 07 Mar 2021
RC2: 'Review of Lyon et al. “Concurrent variation in oil and gas methane emissions and oil price during the COVID-19 pandemic”', Anonymous Referee #2, 22 Feb 2021

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by David Lyon on behalf of the Authors (12 Mar 2021) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (15 Mar 2021) by Bryan N. Duncan

Short summary

The Permian Basin (USA) is the world’s largest oil field. We use tower- and aircraft-based approaches to measure how methane emissions in the Permian Basin changed throughout 2020. In early 2020, 3.3 % of the region’s gas was emitted; then in spring 2020, the loss rate temporarily dropped to 1.9 % as oil price crashed. We find this short-term reduction to be a result of reduced well development, less gas flaring, and fewer abnormal events despite minimal reductions in oil and gas production.