International Methane Emissions Observatory - IMEO’s Post

In November, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union reached a provisional agreement on methane legislation, which will include new data requirements on oil, natural gas, and coal imports. This marks a significant step toward enhancing transparency and accountability across gas supply chains. However, robust and credible data on emissions intensity across natural gas value chains remains scarce. This is where initiatives like the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP 2.0) come into play. Administered by the United Nations Environment Programme, OGMP 2.0 offers a comprehensive, measurement-based reporting framework to evaluate emissions across corporate portfolios. While OGMP 2.0 has its advantages, including facilitating efficient capital allocation and fostering a community of practice on methane reductions, it falls short in tracking and verifying emissions across natural gas supply chains. To address this gap, there is a need for a next-generation reporting framework, reliable technical standards, and technology upscale with transparent data quality indicators and effective regional or national measurement, reporting, and verification systems. #ClimateAction #Methane #Sustainability

Too many articles and posts in my feed as of late on methane detecting satellites completely ignore the efforts being undertaken by oil and gas producers to reduce emissions and tout satellites only as a way to "name and shame" companies. As an oil and gas industry professional, I am very excited to see methane detecting satellites added to the multiple layers of detection technology, a system of systems, being deployed by many operators in the oil and gas industry to quickly detect, repair, and prevent methane leaks. Thank you Stephane Germain of GHGSAT, Bjørn Otto Sverdrup of OGCI (Oil and Gas Climate Initiative), and Jamie Smyth of the Financial Times for your article and posts explaining how the oil and gas industry is actively using satellite technology to reduce methane emissions. #TheRestOfTheStory #energystrong #innovation #technology #sustainability #netzero #methane #ghgemissions

Today Financial Times is running a big story on our flagship Satellite methane and detection program. For the last year we have used satellites detecting methane leaks in Kazakhstan, Algeria and Egypt and engaged local operators. In short, we try to offer a helping hand to companies: - We are able to detect emissions and then use sophisticated technology to make the gas visible — that’s one step. Then we use the unique access that we have as companies to be able to engage with local operators even in remote geographies,” said Bjørn Otto Sverdrup, chair of OGCI’s executive committee. We estimate that 1 million tones of CO2 equivalents so far have been removed by the local operators. Amazing numbers and we have met positivity and a willingness to act. We raise awareness, we share data and companies are able to mitigate leaks. Today, at the opening of CERAWeek we launched that we will expanding our program to 7-8 more countries and a full more year. See more on ogci.com for full reports. This action is additional to the activities are already dong to reduce methane emissions inside the member companies of OGCI (Oil and Gas Climate Initiative), which represent around 30% or the world's oil and gas production. Since 2017 the companies have reduced their combined emissions with 50%. Congrats to the great team for achievements already made: Pietro, Lauren Ward; Asli Korkmaz and for company lead Vanessa Ryan, Matt Kolesar and our Role of gas group as well as partners in Climate Investment (CI), GHGSAT and organizations challenging us to improve Environmental Defense Fund Mark S. Brownstein Andrew Baxter Manfredi Caltagirone Equinor Aiming For Zero Methane Emissions Initiative Carbon Limits AS Stephanie Saunier https://lnkd.in/dVR3ffjR

🌍 A significant milestone in environmental monitoring has been achieved with the launch of MethaneSat, a new satellite developed by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). This project, costing $88M to build, is poised to provide the first high-resolution, near-comprehensive global view of methane leaks from the oil and gas sector. MethaneSat's data, which will be publicly available, promises to serve as a tool for accountability in environmental practices. EDF anticipates that this satellite will play a crucial role in global efforts to reduce methane emissions. The launch of MethaneSat represents a step forward in understanding and addressing environmental challenges. Stay tuned for updates on its impact and contribution to sustainability efforts. #MethaneSat #EnvironmentalMonitoring #ClimateAction #EDF

The world is starting to crack down on upstream methane emissions from natural gas. The EU is driving a series of dialogues across geographies that will assist in creating a common set of terminology, measurement system and monitoring structure. This is key to addressing the global climate change problems of upstream methane emissions while also keeping people from freezing in the dark. It's a wicked problem. The EU's dialogue series and their carbon border adjustment mechanism which will include methane are parts of the solution. Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors is leading the Canadian dialogue sessions. The first of several is coming soon. If your Canadian or European organization is impacted by this, has a strong position on it or wants to be part of the solution, engage with the process. #methane #naturalgas #climatechange #climateaction #economy

Darren Woods speech at APEC: reframing the Climate Challenge. Well- I was honored to be invited and have offered a similar styled keynote at the most recent IOGP ( International Association of Oil and Gas Producers) conference, but with a little different twist on urgencies and realities, and conclusion, recommendations on roles and responsibilities of our beloved industry: to help make room for the new ( " the great electrification") and allow energy-economies free of concerns- here and there, now and tomorrow. More onto this dialogue- soon!

In case you missed it during the holidays, The Conversation Canada published a great piece on methane abatement in Canada's oil and gas sector by Amanda Bryant, PhD. A few key takeaways and explanations: So much variability -> Methane emitted per unit of fossil energy production ("methane intensity") varies by region, and by producer. In Canada we have examples of the best in North America (BC natural gas, offshore east coast), AND worst (CHOPS). Changing tides -> Canada's oil and gas production is shifting. By now 80% of our oil is derived from some type of northern oil sands. More southerly oil regions are steady, or in decline. Unfortunately by virtue of the reservoir characteristics, Cold heavy oil sands production (CHOPS) is more methane intensive than any type of oil production in North America. Measurements tell us that provinces ramping up CHOPS activity are - not surprisingly - producing even more methane. Regulating Inexpensive Solutions -> With good regulations CHOPS production doesn't have to be methane-intensive, as shown in Peace River where vent controls were introduced. Compared to CCS or other emission-control approaches available to the oil and gas sector, reliable financial assessments show that it's cheap to collect methane for sale or to destroy it onsite. Importance of Measurement and Data Systems -> In 2023 we have much better data on methane intensity than in 2020, but we have a long way to go before we have a Canadian benchmarking system founded on measurements that is accessible, transparent, and timely. The US is developing such a system because they recognize that regulators can't legitimately manage sectoral emissions without reliable and current data. NOAA, NASA, NIST and EPA have been tasked to lead the US government effort. https://lnkd.in/ehDq4KBh

(venting is more of a contributer than previously thought and knowing where it's created is the first step to addressing things) The future is, your ability to sell (gas) into certain markets will be based on methane intensity,” he said. Johnson’s lab, which published its latest paper in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment, combined several different measuring methods for methane, a greenhouse gas considered to be about 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first 20 years after its release. In methods published and praised in the scientific literature and now in use by the United Nations Environment Program, the team measured emissions at surface level, from a plane and from satellite data. It’s the first time so-called “bottom-up” methods — which depend on ground-based measurements and estimates and is used by industry — have been combined with “top-down” methods from above. The team looked at 3,500 different oil and gas facilities and 5,600 wells. It concluded official government and industry estimates of methane emissions from Alberta’s oilpatch are 50 per cent too low. https://lnkd.in/g78uK3KT

#Canada was the first country to commit* to achieving at least a 75 percent reduction in #methane emissions from its `#oiland gas sector from 2012 levels by 2030. How could this be best done? Join a policy dialogue discussion of Canadian and EU experts diving deep into the #climateneutrality challenges of the #oil and #gas industry organised by Dunsky Energy + Climate Advisors on 14 September, the first event of a series of six workshops exploring 𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 and 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 for reducing methane emissions. * as summarised on the #Canadian government website: https://bit.ly/3qRTy4L #GMP #globalmethanepledge #CH4 #MRV #emissions #upstream #downstream #sustainability #climateaction #climatepolicy

Practical action on methane emissions from oil and gas production. There is an interesting session online today at 2pm GMT, hosted by the Centre for Global Development in Washington, looking at proposals for action by the IMF to promote a new combination of emissions measurement, transparency, gas monetization technologies, and fiscal measures. I am expecting some work OPM did with the company Energy CC on the use of satellite data to look at emissions data and what it tells us about the operational effectiveness of oil infrastructure in Nigeria will be referenced during the discussions. If you are interested see here to register: https://lnkd.in/exUhcEjE