Little wells, big stink

The closer we look, the worse it gets.

A detailed and recent study of US oil and gas onshore wells uses MethaneSAT measurements to show that smaller or lower-producing wells, which account for about 5% of national production, emit about 40% of supply-chain methane.¹

This isn't a new idea. As far back as 2016, more than one study has concluded that smaller, older, or conventional-well losses average as high as 11% of each well's production, but newer, unconventional sites show as little as 0.13% losses.^{2, 3}

Low volumes of useful hydrocarbon product combine with lots of environmentally-expensive leaks from those low-volume wells to create a very bad cost-to-benefit picture. One landmark study in 2022 showed that 240 low-production sites produced roughly 6% of US oil and gas, but generated 54% of methane emissions.⁴ Another study in 2025 found sites that delivered only 10% of US production generated up to 90% of methane emissions.⁵

The MethaneSAT data, however, adds detail, comprehensiveness, and better coverage. It uses emissions data from nearly 300,000 sites across time. It is as close to incontrovertible as possible: smaller, older, marginal wells create most of the oil and gas methane problem.

What are we doing about it?

In part, we are putting our fingers in our ears and going "La la la."

In the US, the proposed bill HR 8990 would exclude marginal wells from standards under the US Clean Air Act.⁶ The bill's rationale was explicitly mentioned in its introduction: "Too often, these operators are disadvantaged by costly, one-size-fits-all regulations that were never designed with their operations in mind."⁷ In other words, operator arithmetic is all that really matters: small, high-polluting wells should be exempt from clean-air regulations.

Canada has proposed amendments to its emissions regulations that superficially seem to be in much the same spirit, although they are not as deep or sweeping: existing oil facilities that produce low volumes of crude oil or methane may be exempt from comprehensive exemptions.⁸ However, Canada's overall emissions approach is still tied to its Global Methane Pledge and its commitments to the Paris agreement.

With this and other such carve-outs, are Canada's net-zero-2050 goals unrealistic? That remains to be seen; the regulatory and policy environments are complex and change rapidly.

One thing is certain, though: long-term societal costs of these marginal wells far exceed any possible benefits to operators, local communities, or hydrocarbon consumers.

Reading

1. Williams, James P., Joshua Benmergui, Mark Omara, et al. Methane Emissions Intensity Mapping from Space Reveals Outsized Emissions Impact from Marginal Oil and Gas Production in the U.S. August 9, 2026. https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/14356/.
2. Omara, Mark, Melissa R. Sullivan, Xiang Li, R. Subramanian, Allen L. Robinson, and Albert A. Presto. "Methane Emissions from Conventional and Unconventional Natural Gas Production Sites in the Marcellus Shale Basin." Environmental Science & Technology 50, no. 4 (2016): 2099–107. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b05503.
3. Deighton, Jacob A., Amy Townsend-Small, Sarah J. Sturmer, Jacob Hoschouer, and Laura Heldman. "Measurements Show That Marginal Wells Are a Disproportionate Source of Methane Relative to Production." Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 70, no. 10 (2020): 1030–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2020.1808115.
4. Deighton, Jacob A., Amy Townsend-Small, Sarah J. Sturmer, Jacob Hoschouer, and Laura Heldman. "Measurements Show That Marginal Wells Are a Disproportionate Source of Methane Relative to Production." Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 70, no. 10 (2020): 1030–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2020.1808115.
5. Deighton, Jacob A., Amy Townsend-Small, Sarah J. Sturmer, Jacob Hoschouer, and Laura Heldman. "Measurements Show That Marginal Wells Are a Disproportionate Source of Methane Relative to Production." Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association 70, no. 10 (2020): 1030–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2020.1808115.
6. Rep. Pfluger, August [R-TX-11. “"Text - H.R.8990 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Protect Domestic Oil and Gas Small Business Act of 2026." Legislation. May 21, 2026. 2026-05-21. https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/8990/text.
7. Congressman August Pfluger. "Rep. Pfluger, Sen. Lummis Push to Protect Small Energy Producers." May 21, 2026. https://pfluger.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2973.
8. Government of Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada. "Canada Gazette, Part 2, Volume 159, Number 27: Regulations Amending the Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds (Upstream Oil and Gas Sector)." Government of Canada, Public Works and Government Services Canada, Integrated Services Branch, Canada Gazette, December 31, 2025. https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2025/2025-12-31/html/sor-dors280-eng.html.