The pathway to eliminating methane emissions [LNG2023]
To what extent do you feel that methane emissions from the oil and gas sector can be underreported in some cases, or indeed overreported in other ones. What role does innovation have to accurately quantify the problem?
The oil and gas sector contributes around 20% of total methane emissions, with the remainder coming from other sectors and industries. According to the International Energy Agency’s latest estimates, methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are around 2.4 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is nearly half of the industry’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions.
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According to the International Energy Agency, eliminating those emissions by 2030 would be equivalent to removing two-thirds of the global transport sector’s greenhouse gas emissions. Eliminating those methane emissions will play a key role in meeting the Paris Agreement’s targets.
OGCI has supported the science behind measuring and monitoring methane emissions in the oil and gas sector as well as research and development of the technologies required.
These include our support of the Methane Science Studies, overseen by the government-led Climate and Clean Air Coalition, to increase scientific knowledge and understanding of methane emissions from different types of sites across the global oil and gas industry.
To improve identification of methane emissions sources, better understand their frequency and persistence, OGCI is working with the Methane Guiding Principles and others to establish common industry practices to deploy technologies effectively in specific settings both onshore and offshore.
Since 2020, OGCI has supported the World Bank’s Global Gas Flaring Explorer platform to help deliver improved transparency in flaring data from satellites.
We now feel that there is a sufficient range of tools available to the industry to improve the precision of the data that is collected. Our member companies are already deploying such technologies at the majority of their assets and sharing their experience with the rest of the industry, which helps to improve overall market capacity.
In addition to the science and technology around monitoring and measuring, OGCI has also focused on increasing the reporting and transparency of the data from our member companies.
OGCI member companies have standardized and regularly streamline the methodologies used to collectively report greenhouse gas emissions and spending on low-carbon technologies. The data submitted by companies is independently verified by EY.
OGCI’s aggregate data is reported annually and published on our website. We use the data to set baselines and track progress for collective emissions reduction targets.
How quickly could methane emissions from the oil and gas sector be eliminated, and how can this be achieved?
There’s a huge opportunity to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. According to the IEA, methane emissions can be reduced by over 75% by implementing available measures such as leak detection and repair programs and upgrading leaky equipment.
Eliminating methane emissions has always been a core priority for OGCI and our member companies have already shown what’s possible. Since 2017, OGCI’s member companies have collectively reduced absolute upstream methane emissions by 40% and reduced flaring by a third.
We believe it’s possible to achieve near zero methane emissions by 2030 from operated oil and gas assets by sharing best practices, deploying technology and building capability through initiatives, partnerships and collaboration.
New technologies, including monitoring with satellites, drones and sensors, make it easier to detect and better quantify methane emissions allowing the oil and gas industry to address methane emissions in a more meaningful way.
To achieve similar levels of success across the industry, we are calling on companies to join us in the Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative, which aims to reduce methane emissions to near zero by 2030.
The initiative is growing fast, sending a strong signal that the industry is ready to take action on methane emissions. We already have around 90 supporters and signatories., and I expect support to expand further this year.
We’re calling on oil and gas producers, service companies and others supporting the industry such as specialist technology providers and consultancies to join our collective effort.
To what extent will this rely on scaling up current technologies and to what extent on innovating new ones?
We need to do both as there isn’t just one approach for eliminating methane emissions across different types of facilities in different locations.
There are already many cost-effective technologies that companies can use to detect, quantify and abate methane emissions. For example, advances in satellite technology have made it possible to detect methane emissions across large areas.
OGCI has been at the forefront of this work with its satellite monitoring campaign over Iraq which used a combination of satellite observations at the country and asset level to identify major sources of methane emissions. We are now working to expand this campaign to many more countries.
In addition, we are this month publishing guidance on how to achieve near zero methane emissions that includes a four-step pathway for operators to follow to eliminate methane emissions.
At the same time, we need to continue to support innovation to detect, quantify and abate all forms of methane emissions across all sectors cost-effectively.
This feature was originally published in the LNG2023 Daily, produced by NGW during the LNG2023 conference in Vancouver July 10-13.