Researchers from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel have found that considerable quantities of the greenhouse gas methane escape uncontrolled into the water from abandoned oil and gas wells in the North Sea. The work, published in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control , confirms earlier studies based on a greatly extended data basis. On the basis of investigations directly on the seafloor it was possible to determine the amount of escaping gas. Photo: ROV team/GEOMAR During expeditions to oil and gas reservoirs in the central North Sea in 2012 and 2013, scientists of the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel discovered that methane bubbles emerged from the seabed around abandoned wells. The gas originates from shallow gas pockets, which lie less than 1,000 meters deep below the seafloor and that were not the target of the original drilling operations. An initial assessment showed that […]