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U.S. oil and gas boom behind rising ethane levels

Up to 3 percent of emissions of the greenhouse gas come from single site centered in North Dakota

Bakken shale

GAS LEAK  Flyovers of North America’s Bakken oil and gas field reveal that the region releases a significant amount of the world’s ethane emissions, a gas that can damage air quality and warm the climate.

 

Joshua Doubek/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Thomas Sumner

- More than 2 years ago

A single oil and gas field centered in North Dakota spews 1 to 3 percent of all global ethane emissions, about 230,000 metric tons annually.