Philippine Burdeau

All Publications

• Carbon Intensity of United States Natural Gas Supply. Environmental science & technology Zhang, Z., Rutherford, J., Littlefield, J., Ramadan, F., Ali Saafi, M., Ren, B., Jabbar, M. Y., Saad, D. M., Burdeau, P. M., Masnadi, M. S., Brandt, A. 2026

  Abstract

  Understanding greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from natural gas systems is essential for transitioning to a low-carbon economy. This work estimates well-through-transmission GHG emissions of the US natural gas from one million wells covering 91% production in 2023. A high-resolution US oil and gas production area map is developed to harmonize spatial and tabular data from the oil and natural gas (O&NG) supply chain. We systematically integrate latest aerial campaign measurement into natural gas life cycle GHG emission estimates, capturing methane fugitives with better characterization of superemitter events. More than ten public and commercial data sets are integrated with an engineering-based unit process life cycle assessment (LCA) model. The estimated total GHG emissions from the US gas sector are 719 MMT CO2eq, more than twice the estimates of the US Environmental Protection Agency. The average well-through-transmission carbon intensity (CI) for US natural gas is 15.99 [15.14, 16.90] gCO2eq/MJ, with an upstream (exploration through processing) CI of 12.27 [11.84, 12.68] gCO2eq/MJ and a midstream (transmission) CI of 3.72 [3.30, 4.22] gCO2eq/MJ (bracketed values indicate uncertainty ranges). Methane fugitive and venting account for 61% and 21% of the upstream CI, an order of magnitude higher than flaring contributions (2.1%). Reducing methane fugitive and venting loss rates by 75% would reduce the upstream CI by half.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.est.5c14196

  View details for PubMedID 41685834

• Controlled release testing of commercially available methane emission measurement technologies at the TADI facility ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES McManemin, A., Juery, C., Blandin, V., France, J. L., Burdeau, P., Brandt, A. R. 2026; 19 (3): 923-934

  View details for DOI 10.5194/amt-19-923-2026

  View details for Web of Science ID 001684882200001

• High-resolution national mapping of natural gas composition substantially updates methane leakage impacts. Nature communications Burdeau, P. M., Sherwin, E. D., Biraud, S. C., Berman, E. S., Brandt, A. R. 2025

  Abstract

  Methane is emitted from oil and gas operations alongside heavier hydrocarbons and non-hydrocarbon gases, shaping emissions management decision-making, including air quality impacts. Yet, most assessments assume fixed gas composition, overlooking significant spatial and temporal variations. Here, we generate a high-resolution, data-driven map of natural gas composition across the United States, reconstructing methane, heavier hydrocarbons, and non-hydrocarbon species using spatio-temporal interpolation and oil-and-gas production patterns. Our approach is able to reduce composition prediction errors by 39% in terms of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) compared to standard techniques and reveals that methane loss rates have been underestimated by more than 50% in some regions. Beyond methane, we uncover substantial variability in co-emitted gases, exposing blind spots in current emissions inventories and emissions management frameworks. Our work enables more accurate emissions assessments, guides targeted measurement strategies, and informs emissions management decision-making. It also provides a general framework for prediction in environmental applications that integrate sparse measurements with auxiliary variables.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-66465-6

  View details for PubMedID 41271740

• Technological Maturity of Aircraft-Based Methane Sensing for Greenhouse Gas Mitigation. Environmental science & technology El Abbadi, S. H., Chen, Z., Burdeau, P. M., Rutherford, J. S., Chen, Y., Zhang, Z., Sherwin, E. D., Brandt, A. R. 2024

  Abstract

  Methane is a major contributor to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Identifying large sources of methane, particularly from the oil and gas sectors, will be essential for mitigating climate change. Aircraft-based methane sensing platforms can rapidly detect and quantify methane point-source emissions across large geographic regions, and play an increasingly important role in industrial methane management and greenhouse gas inventory. We independently evaluate the performance of five major methane-sensing aircraft platforms: Carbon Mapper, GHGSat-AV, Insight M, MethaneAIR, and Scientific Aviation. Over a 6 week period, we released metered gas for over 700 single-blind measurements across all five platforms to evaluate their ability to detect and quantify emissions that range from 1 to over 1,500 kg(CH4)/h. Aircraft consistently quantified releases above 10 kg(CH4)/h, and GHGSat-AV and Insight M detected emissions below 5 kg(CH4)/h. Fully blinded quantification estimates for platforms using downward-facing imaging spectrometers have parity slopes ranging from 0.76 to 1.13, with R2 values of 0.61 to 0.93; the platform using continuous air sampling has a parity slope of 0.5 (R2 = 0.93). Results demonstrate that aircraft-based methane sensing has matured since previous studies and is ready for an increasingly important role in environmental policy and regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.est.4c02439

  View details for PubMedID 38759639

• Single-blind test of nine methane-sensing satellite systems from three continents ATMOSPHERIC MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES Sherwin, E. D., El Abbadi, S. H., Burdeau, P. M., Zhang, Z., Chen, Z., Rutherford, J. S., Chen, Y., Brandt, A. R. 2024; 17 (2): 765-782

  View details for DOI 10.5194/amt-17-765-2024

  View details for Web of Science ID 001352583300001