Workshops: High-Level Meetings on Reducing Methane Emissions in the Oil and Gas Sector

An opportunity for enhancing NDCs’ ambition

Oil and gas operations offer some of the most economic mitigation measures to reduce emissions of Greenhouse gases in the short term. As part of our Oil and Gas Mitigation Program, CCAP is supporting the Global Methane Alliance (GMA) in its call for countries to commit to significant reductions in the sector. The GMA is spearheaded by the CCAC’s Mineral Methane Initiative and the United Nations Environment Programme, and countries that decide to join it are asked to commit to absolute methane reduction targets of at least 45% by 2025 and 60% – 75% by 2030 or to a “near zero” methane intensity target.

Regional efforts are being made to communicate current best practices and offer the necessary support to assess the countries’ adherence to these targets and their potential inclusion on the revised Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) that should be presented in 2020. In this context, CCAP co-organized two workshops – in Africa and South-East Asia- for high level government officials and representatives from oil companies to hear more about the Alliance and its targets.

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; November 6, 2019

On November 6, in Abidjan, representatives from Nigeria, Senegal and Cote d’Ivoire were joined by executives from ENI, BP, Total, NNPC and NGO members of the Alliance for a very productive meeting that explored global best practices, current efforts and plans for methane abatement going forward. While Senegal expressed their interest in exploring the mitigation potential in the country, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire both announced their commitment to the GMA’s targets, the first countries to formally do so and a very exciting development.

Bangkok, Thailand; November 19, 2019

On November 19, in Bangkok, the meeting had participants from Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand, as well as executives from Chevron, CNPC, PTT and Petronas. While no formal commitments were announced, all participating countries expressed their desire to explore mitigation opportunities in the sector and potentially include it in their new NDC.

In both cases, the agenda for the meetings included:

• Interventions by the host Ministries on the vital contribution of the energy sector to sustainable development

• A global assessment of the untapped potential of methane mitigation from the sector and an overview of the current opportunity to enhance ambition of NDCs by including mitigation opportunities in the O&G sector

• An overview of countries’ experience regulating emissions from Oil and Gas sources

• Efforts from the International Oil Companies (OICs) to reduce emissions, such as the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI)

• Panel discussions on:

  • Current efforts undertaken in the participating countries

  • Best practices and lessons learned by IOCs

  • Opportunities for National Oil Companies (NOCs)

• National processes and perspectives for enhancing NDC ambition

• Next steps for the GMA and the participating countries