Picking up the momentum on methane

Faced with one of the most pressing environmental challenges in history, the oil and gas pipeline industry finds itself at a critical juncture. Methane emissions, one of the most potent greenhouse gases, continues to rise at unprecedented rates. According to the latest Global Methane Budget, atmospheric methane levels have surged by 20% in the last two decades, now reaching 1931 parts per billion. As the world casts its gaze on the urgent need to reduce emissions from the fossil fuel sector, operators are coming under increasing pressure to innovate and implement more effective methane detection and reduction strategies.

In part, this pressure is due to the ambitious targets set in 2021’s Global Methane Pledge (GMP). This commitment, launched at the COP26 climate summit, outlined goals of reducing methane in the atmosphere by at least 30% over the next six years. Achieving these goals will be instrumental to limiting global warming within proscribed levels, but with emissions continuing to rise, they are appearing increasingly out of reach. The growing sense of urgency on emissions reduction has been met with a surge of innovation. Since the GMP, the oil and gas industry has presided over unprecedented momentum in mitigation technologies, with some truly impressive advancements enabling operators to replace traditional periodic inspections with something more effective. These technologies are helping fossil fuel operators to more accurately track and register their emissions, facilitating preventative maintenance strategies and providing a stronger backing for anti-methane policies.

The industry’s responsibility

The lack of progress against the GMP’s targets highlighted in the Global Methane Budget demonstrates that time is fast running out for the oil and gas pipeline industry to get its act together on methane emissions. Methane is a particularly potent greenhouse gas that has contributed to approximately one-third of net global warming since the Industrial Revolution. Its impact on climate change is particularly significant in the short term, as it has a much higher warming potential than carbon dioxide over a 20 year period. This means that preventing methane emissions today could have more immediate results than any other greenhouse gas.

The oil and gas industry has a particular duty to act due to its outsized contribution to methane emissions. Fossil fuel energy production is the second largest source of human-caused emissions after agriculture, accounting for more than a third of total estimated anthropogenic emissions. However, the sector is also uniquely well positioned to do something – according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), around 40% of all methane emissions from fossil fuels could be avoided at no net cost as the required spend on abatement would be less than the market value of the additional gas captured.

Addressing methane emissions in the fossil fuel industry would have the added benefits of improving safety and reputation. For the oil and gas operators, methane emissions pose not only an environmental challenge but also represent a significant health and safety risk due to the chance of combustion at sufficiently high concentrations. Such incidents threaten employees and infrastructure alike and require significant costly downtime to avoid through scheduled maintenance. By reducing leak occurrence, the sector can protect its people and reduce spend on equipment.

The Global Methane Pledge

The GMP was humanity’s first major concerted effort to tackle global methane emissions. This voluntary framework supports its 158 signatories to reduce anthropogenic methane emissions and commits them to a 30% reduction target by 2030. The countries that have signed it now represent more than half of all human-caused emissions, and if its targets are achieved, total global warming could reduce by at least 0.2°C by 2050. Industry monitoring agencies broadly recognise that meeting the GMP’s goals will require the oil and gas industry to transform its emissions monitoring capability. The IEA identifies accurate data on methane emissions as an essential requirement for abatement activity, as it will improve understanding of emissions sources, production, and rates that are currently compromised by ad-hoc collection attempts. Accurate, timely, and comprehensive information on infrastructure condition can help to pinpoint the location and magnitude of methane leaks, enabling targeted mitigation efforts. Such measurements also facilitate tracking of emissions reductions over time, helping to improve accountability in the sector, and can support evidence-based policymaking to set more appropriate standards and targets.

As a result, detection and monitoring innovations have formed a large part of the momentum on emissions since the GMP was signed. One of the most significant developments has been the full launch of the Methane Alert and Response System (MARS). This satellite-based system, developed by the UN Environment Programme’s International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO), detected over 1000 energy sector methane plumes globally during its pilot phase in 2023, linking 400 of these plumes to specific energy sector facilities. This system demonstrates the power of combining satellite technology with data analytics to provide actionable information on methane emissions. However, innovations have not been limited to multi-national programmes alone. Ongoing commitments have catalysed developments in gas detection capability, leading to a suite of technologies that are revolutionising prevention efforts.

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