A compressor station at the Hassi R’Mel gas field in Algeria has been leaking large quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, for nearly four decades, scientists from Valencia Polytechnic University have warned after analyzing satellite data.
The results of the study risk complicating the EU’s climate goals as Algeria is seen by Brussels as a substitute for Russian gas supplies, which the bloc intends to abandon in response to the conflict in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.
It’s difficult to estimate the total amount of emissions from the facility, but the researchers said that it’s releasing around 4.5 metric tons of methane into the atmosphere every hour.
According to other estimates by Kayrros SAS, a geoanalytics firm, the emissions from the whole Hassi R’Mel gas field spiked by a staggering 67% last year, reaching 939,000 tons of methane, which has 84 times the warming power of CO₂ in the short term.