Surveying methane point-source super-emissions across oil and gas basins with MethaneSAT

Abstract

Methane emissions from the oil and gas (O&G) industry play a major role in the global methane budget. The MethaneSAT space-based mission, which operated between March 2024 and June 2025, was designed to provide high-quality data on O&G methane emissions, from regional fluxes to high-emitting point sources. This was enabled by MethaneSAT’s measurements in the 1598–1683 nm window with a high spectral resolution (0.25 nm), medium spatial sampling (100 × 400 m2 at nadir), and wide-area coverage (about 200 km at nadir). In this work, we showcase the potential of MethaneSAT to survey high-emitting point sources across O&G basins. We first assess MethaneSAT’s performance for the detection, quantification and attribution of methane plumes through the analysis of key observation-related parameters, including wind speed, surface albedo and spatial sampling. We estimate a minimum detection limit of about 500 kg h−1 for a bright surface and low wind conditions, and an average detection limit around 1300 kg h−1 corresponding to an ensemble of sites with different observation conditions. We analyzed selected MethaneSAT datasets from the main O&G methane hotspots in the world. We observe particularly strong and persistent sources in the Turkmenistan’s South Caspian basin and in the Midland sub-basin of the US Permian Basin, and reveal major super-emissions in Maturin (Venezuela) and Zagros Foldbelt and Widyan (Iran), and the Appalachian basin. We also present other examples of strong methane sources at high latitudes (West Siberia), in offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, and from the waste sector. Our results illustrate the potential of MethaneSAT data to map methane emissions from hotspot regions and super-emitters around the planet.