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How Much Would It Cost Oil and Gas Companies to Curb
Methane Leaks?
By
Bloomberg
27 June
2023
![](images/images_06_28_2023/shutterstock_55445689-31icodmpm-843x564.jpg)
© Shutterstock / think4photopmethane oil
gas
Halting methane releases is one of the most effective ways for the oil
and gas industry to combat climate change. An International Energy
Agency report released Tuesday also suggests it’s one of the cheapest.
If the industry spent $75 billion — roughly equivalent to 2% of 2022
net income — to curb releases of methane through 2030, that would keep
the sector on a pathway to achieve net zero emissions by midcentury, according
to the International Energy Agency.
“The oil and gas industry must lead efforts to tackle methane
emissions by adopting a zero-tolerance approach” to leaks and
intentional releases of the potent greenhouse gas, the Paris-based
organization said in a report released Tuesday. “Methane abatement in
the oil and gas industry is one of the cheapest options to reduce GHG
emissions anywhere in the economy.”
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Although governments increasingly support slashing methane releases
from the energy sector, the report found that “overall progress has
been much too slow, despite the record profits that the oil and gas
industry saw in 2022.”
Total energy-related methane emissions including from coal mining must
drop around 75% by 2030, in the agency’s Net Zero by 2050 (NZE)
Scenario, with two-thirds of those cuts coming from the oil and gas
sector.
The United Nations COP28 climate
conference in Dubai later this year will be an opportunity for
operators to commit to significant cuts by the end of this decade,
according to the report.
That would involve replacing pneumatics and pumps, installing recovery
systems and implementing leak detection and repair programs, much of
which can be funded by the industry. The IEA estimates that an
additional $15 billion to $20 billion is needed to do the same in low-
and middle-income countries— a gap which can be filled by governments,
industry and philanthropy.
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