Scientists Detect Vast Methane Leak At Mexico's Pemex Oil Field

Satellites recorded another large methane leak at an offshore platform belonging to Mexico's Pemex in August, according to exclusive data shared with Reuters, even as pressure mounts on the state oil company to reduce these emissions, Stefanie Eschenbacher reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Mexico's President has pushed for Pemex to increase oil production but critics warn the drive is causing an environmental disaster with the company's aging infrastructure and under-investment.

Three satellites recorded images of methane plumes at the Ku-Maloob-Zaap oil field cluster in the Gulf of Mexico for six days between Aug 5 and Aug 29, said Itziar Irakulis-Loitxate, a scientist from the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

During these days, some 44,064 tons of methane were released into the atmosphere from the Zaap oil field in another "ultra-mission," Irakulis-Loitxate estimated.

This is equivalent to 3.7 million tons of CO2. It comes after a peer-reviewed research paper in June, on which Irakulis-Loitxate was the lead author, uncovered a massive methane leak last December at the same oil field cluster, Mexico's largest by production volume.

The work is part of a wider study funded by the European Space Agency, in which scientists are working to detect and quantify human-made emissions from space.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, is considered a much more potent driver of global warming in the short term than carbon dioxide because it traps more heat in the atmosphere.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is under increasing pressure to clean up operations at Petroleos Mexicanos, as the world's most indebted oil company is formally known.

Lopez Obrador has pushed for Pemex to increase oil production but critics warn the drive is causing an environmental disaster with the company's aging infrastructure and under-investment.

In June, the president promised to tackle methane emissions from the oil and gas sector after meeting US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. Opposition Senator Xochitl Galvez, with whom Reuters shared the findings, said she would file a new complaint to a government watchdog and environmental regulators over the issue.

Natural gas that comes to the surface as a byproduct of oil exploration and production is routinely burnt off, or flared, to reduce methane's harmful impact on the environment. But the direct release of methane on this scale is unusual and environmentally catastrophic, experts said.

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