18/01/2021 (Agence Europe) – World oil and gas operations emitted just over 70 million tonnes of methane into the atmosphere in 2020, a level comparable to the total CO2 emissions from the European Union’s energy sector, according to a new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) published on Monday 18 January. While this figure is about 10% lower than the estimates for 2019, a large part of this drop is explained by the fall in oil production (responsible for 40% of these emissions) and natural gas production (responsible for 60% of these emissions) due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Agency points out. Finally, according to the IEA, around 10% of methane leaks from the gas sector in 2020 could be avoided at no net cost because the value of the captured methane is sufficient to cover the cost of the abatement measure. See the report: http://bit.ly/38V0mCL (DG)