Emission measurements of geogenic greenhouse gases in the area of "Pusty Las" Abandoned Oilfield (Polish Outer Carpathians)

Abstract

The Carpathians may play a significant role as a supplier of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Unfortunately, most of the discovered oil and gas deposits are recently only historical objects. An example is the Sekowa-Ropica Górna-Siary oil deposit located in the marginal part of the Magura Nappe where oil had been extracted in dug wells until the mid XX century. One of such extraction sites is the "Pusty Las" oilfield. In that area, 10 methane and carbon dioxide emission measurement sites were located, among which 4 in dried dug wells and 6 in dig wells still filled with oil and/or water. Dynamics of methane and carbon dioxide concentration changes were measured with the modified static chambers method. Gas samples were collected immediately after the installation of the chamber and again, after 5 and 10 minutes. In the case of reclaimed or dry dug wells, static chamber was installed directly at the ground surface. In wells still filled with oil and/or water the chamber was equipped with an "apron" mounted on special sticks. The dynamics of concentrations changes varied from -0.871 to 119.924 ppm·min-1 for methane and from -0.005 to 0.053% obj·min-1 for carbon dioxide. Average methane emission was 1.9 g·m-2·d-1 and that of carbon dioxide was 26.95 g·m-2·d-1. The measurements revealed that an abandoned oil field supplies significant amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere although the emission of methane is lower than that measured e.g. in mud volcanoes located in various parts of the world.