Science | The mystery of Russian gas

At the end of August, the Finns saw a huge flame rising in the sky from a Russian methane station near Saint Petersburg. Then, Canadian satellites reported an increase in natural gas leaks in Russia. Is Pushkin’s homeland wasting the gas it no longer wants to sell to Europe?

Mathieu Perreault
The Press

Flaring

An “environmental disaster”. That’s how Norway’s energy information firm Rystad called flaring — a practice of burning the natural gas waste associated with oil extraction, according to the World Bank — in Portovaya, Russia, near from the border with Finland. This unusual flaring would produce 9000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per day, or the annual emissions of two cars.

The media immediately linked this massive methane incineration, which lasted all summer, to the end of Russian methane deliveries to Europe through the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline – the head of which is also located in Portovaya. “Flaring at Portovaya was down a bit in September, but it’s still much higher than June,” says Jessica McCarty, a fire greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions specialist at the University of Miami. in Ohio.

According to Mark Davis, CEO of UK flare management firm Capterio, the unusually intense flames at Portovaya originated from a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant adjacent to the Nord Stream 1 compressor. will be transformed into LNG, but the capacity is much less, 25 to 30 times less. That said, Portovaya is just one of thousands of flare sites in Russia. The most important are linked to oil production in Siberia. »

Leaks

Montreal-based methane leak detection firm GHGSat also noted a “significant” increase in leaks at compressor stations in Russia’s gas pipeline network in August, according to GHGSat president Stephane Germain.

According to Mr. Davis, it is likely that the methane which is no longer exported to Europe will be released into the atmosphere. “We can lower well production, but only up to a point. Reducing production too much can damage a tank. The World Bank reported this week that Gazprom’s methane production has fallen by 13% this year, while exports have fallen by 35%.

The official explanation

Gazprom did not explicitly specify the reasons for the unusual flaring at Portovaya, limiting itself to telling the magazine Upstream that these were LNG plant commissioning procedures. Gazprom had previously claimed that the interruption of flow in the Nord Stream gas pipeline was linked to Western sanctions, including problems with Siemens turbines. The German company has denied these allegations.

But sanctions could well be at issue in both cases, according to Mark Davis. “Flaring is normal before an LNG plant is commissioned, but at these levels it is likely a reflection of the lack of expertise in Russia for these technical operations. It may technically be the same for Nord Stream’s compressor station. »

But Jessica McCarty points out that even if the sanctions make it difficult to access foreign expertise, Russia is not above suspicion. “I worked for several years in Russia, and lies are very common, says Mr.^me McCarty. So it’s hard to believe the Russians when they tell the truth. The Portovaya LNG plant was built to supply the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad, currently served by Ukrainian pipelines. But its first load of LNG left in September for Greece, according to the magazine Bloomberg Business Week.

The ABCs of Methane

Methane is a much more powerful GHG than CO₂, but it persists for a shorter time in the atmosphere. This means that in 20 years, methane warms the Earth 84 times more than CO₂, but in 100 years, only 28 times more. During flaring, methane is burned and partially transformed into CO₂.

Initially, this was a safety measure – methane being explosive – but oil companies are increasingly using flaring to limit the impact of their GHG emissions. “With effective flaring, you burn 98% to 99% of the methane,” says Davis. When the flaring is not well done, we drop to 60-70%. »

Is Russia a pro at flaring? “Probably not,” says Mr. Davis. Methane leaks occur at network compressor stations, but the majority of leaks worldwide are either natural or linked to the exploitation of oil reservoirs, which also contain gas. As CO emissions₂ are much larger, the total CO balance₂ as GHG is two to three times higher than methane.

Methane from landfills

GHGSat also collaborated this summer on the study of another source of methane, landfills. Published in the journal Science Advances in mid-August, the study concluded that emissions from landfills in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Delhi and Bombay, India, and Lahore, Pakistan are 1.4 to 2.6 times higher provided that.

“In Buenos Aires, we see some of the highest emissions in the world for a landfill,” says Mr. Germain. It’s interesting because the city presents itself as very active in the fight against climate change. It is part of the C40. The C40 is a group of cities fighting against climate change, whose steering committee includes Buenos Aires and Montreal. Is the satellite examination of methane emissions from Quebec dumps likely to generate such surprises? “In Canada, answers Mr. Germain, we better manage methane emissions from landfills. But of course there are too. »