COVID-19 Impact on the Oil and Gas Industry NO₂ Emissions: A Case Study of the Permian Basin

COVID-19 caused a historic collapse in fossil fuel demand, a general decline in economic activity, and hydrocarbon price volatility. This resulted in an unprecedented scenario to evaluate the contribution of the O&G (Oil and Gas) industry NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) emissions in the Permian basin (United States), currently the second largest hydrocarbon-bearing area on Earth. TROPOMI (Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument), on board the Sentinel-5P satellite, has captured the impact of the oil and gas industry emissions during the COVID-19 lockdown. A generalized drop (similar to 30%) of NO2 emissions derived using the divergence method in comparison with 2019 was observed following the decline in production and drilling (13% and 68% respectively) during the lockdown. NO2 tropospheric columns were less impacted with a smaller decrease (similar to 4%) across the basins. This study demonstrates that the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on NO2 emissions was not only present in urban areas but also in vast O&G production regions, which shows the potential of TROPOMI to assess future pollution mitigation strategies for this industry. Plain Language Summary The COVID-19 pandemic caused a big impact on the oil and gas industry, not only in production but also in price and demand. This situation was a good opportunity to analyze one of the most common gas emissions of this industry, nitrogen dioxide, in one of the biggest oil and gas production areas, the Permian basin. Using satellite imagery, it was observed a generalized drop in nitrogen dioxide emissions during the lockdown period of the pandemic. This study not only shows that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on nitrogen dioxide emissions was present in other environments apart from the urban for example, the oil and gas production regions, but also the capability to monitor it using satellite imagery.