Effective ways to reduce methane and associated gas emissions during the development of hydrocarbon fields will be one of the pressing topics that will be discussed at the upcoming Forum on attracting investments in the oil and gas sector of Turkmenistan (TEIF 2024) on April 24–25 in Paris.

As part of the panel discussion on the topic “Reducing methane and carbon dioxide emissions from hydrocarbon production...” at TEIF 2024, specialists from Turkmenistan and leading experts from the UN, OPEC, IEA and international companies will present their vision.

The experience of Turkmen scientists, scientific research and practical work in solving this important environmental problem is described in an article from the quarterly news digest “Turkmen Energy”, prepared by the director of the Natural Gas Research Institute of the State Concern “Turkmengas” B. Pirniyazov and the head of the laboratory I. Luryeva.

“According to experts, Turkmenistan has the opportunity to reduce methane emissions in the country by approximately 75%, and more than half without costs. Satellite studies have also shown sources of harmful emissions, which makes it possible to determine ways to combat them.” This will be the country’s contribution to the implementation of the 7th Sustainable Development Goal related to sustainable energy, including as part of the implementation of the tasks defined in the Paris Agreement on climate change,” the article says.

“Under the project, which is being worked on jointly with the International Observatory on Methane Emissions (IOME), it is planned to conduct scientific research to reduce the amount of emissions of this type of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A clear confirmation of active joint work is the visit of the delegation of the oil and gas complex to the headquarters of the IOME in Paris, within the framework of the Forum to attract investments in the oil and gas sector of Turkmenistan (TEIF 2024) on April 24–25, 2024. All this is necessary for the timely implementation of tasks arising from the Paris Agreement in Turkmenistan,” the publication notes.

This article describes in detail the method that scientists from the Natural Gas Research Institute developed to solve the problem of stopping the combustion of methane at the famous crater in Darvaza in Turkmenistan, which received the official name “Radiance of the Karakum Desert”. The management of the fuel and energy complex was instructed to attract scientists and, if necessary, foreign specialists to solve this problem.”

“Specialists of the Scientific Research Institute of Natural Gas of the State Concern “Turkmengas” studied the geological structure of the strata of the Zeagli-Darvaza group of fields, the peculiarity of which is the presence of a large number of thin, low-power strata lying at a depth of 200 to 950 meters, interlayered with aquiferous and dense strata. It was also revealed that layers and deposits interact with each other,” noted in the article.

“We have proposed drilling a well that should open all the productive strata present in the section, which will further reduce the flow of gas into the crater and reduce methane emissions. Of course, it is not possible to instantly stop uncontrolled inter-layer gas flows. However, gas production from a well, firstly, will make it possible to control the filtration flow so much that over time the entire gas flow will be directed towards the well; secondly, the gas that is extracted, and not burned, can be used. Forced gas extraction from the new well will make it possible to control filtration flows and reduce uncontrolled gas emissions into the atmosphere,” the authors write.

“As one of the measures, it is also proposed to transfer into operational use one of the observation wells located close to the burning crater. With its help, it will be possible to carry out intensive gas extraction from the upper productive formations.

The effectiveness of the proposed measures is confirmed by data from satellite images of the Capterio company, which clearly demonstrate a significant reduction in combustion (more than 2 times) in the period from September 2023 to February 2024, when forced gas extraction was carried out from nearby wells,” the publication notes.

“It is quite obvious that the development of gas fields includes a wide range of tasks, requires constant improvement of the technologies and strategies used, special detailed and laboratory experiments, comprehensive in-depth study from environmental and economic points of view, innovation and investment. And this is one of the main steps towards zero greenhouse gas emissions and maintaining an ecological balance in the environment,” the article states.