Measurement reporting and verification of methane emissions from the gas and oil sector and consequences for LNG trade : a three year progress report

Reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is one of the easiest and lowest cost measures which can have a significant impact on global warming prior to 2050. Since 2022, pledges and initiatives by governments and companies have resulted in progress in relation to awareness, agreements and targets, but the extent to which these have resulted in verified reductions of methane emissions is not clear. At the same time, there has been a substantial improvement of measurement techniques, particularly satellites and overflights which are able to identify smaller emissions releases with increasing geographical accuracy. US and EU regulation and legislation in the process of being implemented, require companies to switch reporting of emissions from engineering estimates or default factors to actual measurements. But with the arrival of the Trump Administration it remains to be seen how much of the US methane reduction programme and engagement in international initiatives will survive. The EU Methane Regulation is extremely ambitious but is restricted to emissions from the production segment. It does not become fully operational for imports until 2030 and key metrics such as intensity and equivalence have yet to be defined. The Regulation applies to all fossil fuels, but the initial focus has been on natural gas and particularly liquefied natural gas (LNG) possibly because of the substantial increase in European imports post-2022. Attributing GHG emissions to a specific cargo of LNG is a complex process and previous initiatives have not been widely adopted. The fact that US exporters are providing more than half of European LNG imports demonstrates the importance of finding a regulatory accommodation at a government and company level. Methane emissions are the Achilles Heel of any claim for gas to act as a transition or bridge fuel. Because of its projected expansion in the period up to 2030, the challenge for LNG is to lead the way on providing publicly available detail of measurement, reporting and verification of emissions. The entire oil and gas sector may be judged by its ability and willingness to document significant progress in meeting that challenge as part of its license to operate.