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<p>Drawing on a recent study from the university of Texas, the potential greenhouse gas emissions from a shale gas well in the UK would likely be between 745 to 865 tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent per year. The largest proportion of these emissions is likely to be as methane. It is unrealistic at present to estimate the</p><p><?notus-xml column=200?></p><p>total emissions in the UK from shale gas operations as it is not possible to predict the number of shale gas production wells likely to be developed. However, the proportion of the UK greenhouse gas emissions, resulting from shale gas extraction, is likely to be a very minor part of the total UK emissions of the basket of six greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol, which is provisionally estimated to be 571.6 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent in 2012. The UK's emissions are 1.3% of total global greenhouse gas emissions, so the direct global warming effect of shale gas operations in the UK is likely to be very miniscule. To put these numbers into context, the US estimated their greenhouse gas emissions in 2011, resulting from shale gas extraction, to be less than 0.25% of their total greenhouse gas emissions.</p> |