In a new report published on Wednesday 3 May, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that oil and gas operations account for around 15% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions today and that the industry has the ability and resources to reduce them quickly and cost-effectively. The report is intended to feed into the discussions leading up to COP28 in Dubai in November.
In 2022, oil and gas production, transport and processing emitted the equivalent of 5.1 billion tonnes of CO2.
According to the IEA’s ‘Net Zero Emissions by 2050’ scenario, emissions from oil and gas operations must be reduced by 60% by 2030.
The report identifies 5 ways in which the industry can achieve this goal: - tackling methane emissions; - eliminating non-emergency flaring; - electrifying upstream facilities with low-emissions electricity; - equipping oil and gas processes with carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies; - expanding the use of hydrogen from low-emissions electrolysis in refineries.
“Tackling methane emissions is the single most important measure that contributes to the overall fall in emissions from oil and gas operations”, the IEA says.
While several oil and gas companies representing just under half of global oil production have announced plans to reduce emissions from their operations, the IEA believes that “a far broader coalition - with much more ambitious targets - is needed to achieve meaningful reductions across the oil and gas industry and beyond”.
According to the report, this goes hand in hand with a consistent approach to transparency, monitoring, reporting and verification of emissions from oil and gas operations.
To see the report: https://aeur.eu/f/6oy (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)