An International Energy Agency (IEA) report has found that methane emissions from oil and gas production had dropped around 10% last year.
The drop was attributed to lower output as several companies trimmed production after the Covid-19 pandemic crashed fuel demand.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and is more powerful in warming the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide.
The gas is usually emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas and oil. Separately, agricultural practices also cause methane emissions.
Last year, the oil and gas operations generated more than 70 million tonnes of methane emissions, Reuters reported, citing the IEA report. The figure is nearly 10% less than what was reported in 2019.
IEA was quoted by the news agency as saying: “A large part of the drop in methane emissions in 2020 occurred not because companies were taking more care to avoid methane leaks from their operations, but simply because they were producing less oil and gas.
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By GlobalData“There is clearly a risk that this downward trend will be reversed by an increase in production to fuel a rebound in global economic activity.”
In April last year, the members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and other key oil producers, agreed to trim production by 10 million barrels per day in a bid to revive crude prices.
Production was also hit by the US sanctions on Venezuelan output and civil war in Libya.
According to IEA’s Sustainable Development Scenario, the methane emissions generated by the energy sector needs to drop to below 25 million tonnes by 2030 to cap global warming to manageable levels.
