AIR IMPACTS OF OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT ON AIR QUALITY: WHAT RESEARCH HAS SHOWN SO FAR

Since 1990, the number of natural gas and gas condensate wells in the US has almost doubled. Today the US is home to close to one million gas and oil wells. Over the same time period gas production has increased by 35% and oil production by 15%. While technological progress has enabled producers to unlock vast amounts of shale and tight gas and oil, there has been a growing interest in better understanding the environmental impacts of a booming industry. Raw natural gas is made of a mix of hydrocarbons and varying amounts of contaminants such as water, CO_2, aromatics and H₂S. Natural gas and oil production is known to result in emissions of hydrocarbons to the air. Related road traffic and on-site engines also contribute to nitrogen oxides and particles emissions. Traditionally, state and national level air quality managers have relied on reported activity data, available emission factors and modeling to quantify emissions from present and future oil and gas operations and the associated air impacts. In the past few years, several scientific groups have conducted field measurements in a few producing Basins in the US to document ambient levels of surface ozone and its precursors and to quantify emissions from oil and gas activities. In this talk, we will review what has been published so far in terms of air impacts of oil and gas development and highlight remaining knowledge gaps.