It is hunting for leaks of methane — an invisible, super-polluting gas that is dramatically warming the planet. Although it’s leaking less overall than the Permian Basin, for example, it’s an older basin — with older, leaky equipment — that’s producing far less oil and gas. Natural gas is flared Andrews, Texas, part of the Permian Basin, in March 2022. Dilapidated equipment tends to be leakier, and in parts of the Caspian Basin, gas is often treated as a waste product and vented or flared. But because of Venezuela’s proximity to the tropics and frequent cloud cover, capturing its methane emissions has proved challenging.

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Persons: ”, Ritesh Gautam, Antoine Halff, Julian Quinones, ” Gautam, Andrews, Joe Raedle, MethaneSAT, Rob Jackson, Jackson, ” Jackson Organizations: CNN, Environmental Protection Agency, Getty, Carbon Project, Stanford University, “ Companies Locations: —, Appalachia, Utah’s Uinta, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Caspian, Andrews , Texas, “ Turkmenistan, Soviet, American