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‘Mind-boggling’ methane leaks from Turkmenistan revealed

A Nasa satellite image of methane plumes east of Hazar, Turkmenistan, in October 2022. Photograph: Nasa/JPL-Caltech/AFP/Getty

Methane leaks alone from Turkmenistan’s two main fossil fuel fields caused more global heating in 2022 than the entire carbon emissions of the UK, satellite data has revealed.

Emissions of the potent greenhouse gas from the oil- and gas-rich country are “mind-boggling”, and an “infuriating” problem that should be easy to fix, experts have told the Guardian.

The data produced by Kayrros for the Guardian found that the western fossil fuel field in Turkmenistan, on the Caspian coast, leaked 2.6m tonnes of methane in 2022. The eastern field emitted 1.8m tonnes. Together, the two fields released emissions equivalent to 366m tonnes of CO2, more than the UK’s annual emissions, which are the 17th-biggest in the world.

— read more theguardian.com | Damian Carrington | 9 May 2023

Nullius in verba