Gazprom took responsibility for one of the most serious methane leaks lately, Bloomberg writes. The problem was identified by analyzing data from a satellite provided by Kayrros SAS. The gas giant reported that during the repair of pipelines on June 4, there was a leak of 2.7 million cubic meters of methane.
From the point of view of influence on global warming, this can be considered an equivalent of emissions that produce 40 thousand machines with internal combustion engines in the United States per year, the data of the environmental protection fund data is evidenced.
kayrros appreciated emissions of 395 metric tons per hour (about 583 thousand cubic meters). Thus, it turns out that the gas company is responsible for the record leakage in the oil and gas sector since September 2019.
Gazprom reported that the incident occurred after the problem was found on the “Urengoy-Center 1” gas pipeline in Tatarstan. The company claims that he managed to reduce potential emissions by 22 percent, but due to urgency, the task could not use a mobile compression station to limit leakage.
Kayrros argues that this is not the only methane leak from Gazprom pipelines. Another one occurred on May 24th. In Gazprom, they reported that this is due to the two-day planned work on the site in Bashkiria. Emissions are estimated at 900 thousand cubic meters, and according to the company, this does not contradict the safety regulations adopted in the industry. Gazprom recognized another three leaks seen in Russia for the last month.
Analysts “VTB-Capital” argue that the June incident accounts for only 0.1 percent of the total pollution caused by the work of Gazprom in 2019.
“The situation can be rather negative for the perception of shares of Gazprom,” the specialists indicated, noting that at the same time the leak is unlikely to affect the company’s finances or its work.
June 17 Kayrros found a huge cloud of methane also in the area of coal mines in South Africa. Emissions in the company were compared with emissions from 260 thousand cars. According to experts, methane is one of the main causes of global warming. In the first 20 years in the air, this gas catches approximately 84 times more heat than carbon dioxide.