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Reducing Methane Emissions and Eliminating Routine Gas Flaring in Oil & Gas Operations

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COP21 official side event Reducing methane emissions and eliminating routine gas flaring in oil & gas operations 7 December 2015, 18:30-20:00 COP venue / “blue zone”, Room 3 Paris Le Bourget The oil and gas sector is the second largest source of anthropogenic methane emissions, and gas flaring at oil production sites emits pollutants like black carbon and more than 300 million tons of carbon dioxide annually. This official COP21 side event will provide policy makers and other stakeholders with the latest information on these two issues and discuss the steps being taken by governments and industry to reduce emissions from the sector. The event is hosted by the Government of Norway, in participation with the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Oil & Gas Methane Partnership, the World Bank Group, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), and Centro de Estudios para el Desarrollo Sostenible (CEID-Colombia). AGENDA 18:30-18:35 Welcoming remarks Tine Sundtoft, Minister of Climate and Environment, Norway 18:35-18:40 Brief film: Methane emissions in the oil and gas sector 18:40-18:50 Better Data on Methane Emissions Fred Krupp, President, Environmental Defense Fund 18:50-18:55 Brief film: Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 18:55-19:05 Latest endorsers of the global Initiative: “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” Anita Marangoly George, World Bank Group 19:05-19:50 Panel discussion: Reducing methane emissions and flaring Moderator: Aron Cramer, CEO, Business for Social Responsibility / BSR Amina Mohammed, Honourable Minister, Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria (tbc) Paul Simons, Deputy Executive Director, International Energy Agency Helge Lund, CEO, BG-Group Eldar Sætre, CEO, Statoil Bob Dudley, CEO, BP Karen Florini, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change, State Department, US Anita Marangoly George, Sr. Director, Energy & Extractives Global Practice, World Bank Group 19:50 Closing remarks Hanne Bjurstrøm, Special Climate Envoy, Norway THE ISSUES Reducing methane emissions in the oil & gas sector Reducing methane emissions is an important part of the action necessary to mitigate climate change. Data from the IPCC suggests that 25% of the warming we are currently experiencing is the result of anthropogenic methane emissions. Methane is over 25 times more potent than CO2 over a 100-year time horizon and over 80 times more potent over a 20-year horizon. Global data on methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are uncertain, though many consider the sector to be one of the largest man- made sources after agriculture. For example, one recent report estimates that the industry emitted around 67 Mt of methane in 2012 (Rhodium Group 2015). The 2015 IEA Bridging the Gap report identified reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector as one of five key opportunities to help meet the 2-degree goal. Natural gas emits less CO2 than coal or oil when burned, but methane emissions during gas production, processing and transport undermine the net climate benefits of natural gas. The often-heard statement that “gas is cleaner than coal” will only be widely accepted if methane emissions are shown to be managed. The good news is that, once methane emissions are found, solutions to address them are generally cost-effective, many involving relatively low up-front costs with quick payback periods. Government and NGO partners in the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) launched the CCAC Oil & Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) in September 2014 at the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit with a group of forward-leaning companies. This followed more than a year of consultations with the oil and gas industry, NGO’s, governments and other stakeholders. The OGMP aims to help companies minimize methane emissions in their operations through a systematic approach that involves surveying for, quantifying and addressing the main methane emission sources. The public reporting requirement helps companies demonstrate this systematic approach to stakeholders. The OGMP aims to help build a credible data set for methane emissions and to share lessons learned. The initiative now has eight partner companies: BP, BG-Group, ENI, Pemex, PTT, Southwestern Energy, Statoil and Total, and is actively welcoming more. More information may be found at www.ccacoalition.org/ The methane emissions from this liquids storage tank are invisible to the naked eye, but can be seen with specially calibrated infrared cameras Eliminating routine gas flaring by 2030 During oil production, associated gas is produced from the reservoir together with the oil. Much of this gas is utilized or conserved because governments and oil companies have made substantial investments to capture it; nevertheless, some of it is flared because of technical, regulatory, or economic constraints. As a result, thousands of gas flares at oil production sites around the globe burn approximately 140 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually, causing more than 300 million tons of CO2 to be emitted to the atmosphere. Flaring of gas contributes to climate change and impacts the environment through emission of CO2, black carbon and other pollutants. It also wastes a valuable energy resource that could be used to advance the sustainable development of producing countries. For example, if this amount of gas were used for power generation, it could provide about 750 billion kWh of electricity, or more than the African continent’s current annual electricity consumption. The “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” initiative (the Initiative), introduced by the World Bank, brings together governments, oil companies, and development institutions who recognize the flaring situation described above as unsustainable from a resource management and environmental perspective, and who agree to cooperate to eliminate routine flaring no later than 2030. The Initiative was launched in April 2015 by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and World Bank president Jim Yong Kim. So far, the Initiative has been endorsed by about 40 governments, oil companies, and development institutions. Governments that endorse the Initiative will provide a legal, regulatory, investment, and operating environment that is conducive to upstream investments and to the development of viable markets for utilization of the gas and the infrastructure necessary to deliver the gas to these markets. This will provide companies the confidence and incentive as a basis for investing in flare elimination solutions. Governments will require, and stipulate in their new prospect offers, that field development plans for new oil fields incorporate sustainable utilization or conservation of the field’s associated gas without routine flaring. Furthermore, governments will make every effort to ensure that routine flaring at existing oil fields ends as soon as possible, and no later than 2030. Oil companies that endorse the Initiative will develop new oil fields they operate according to plans that incorporate sustainable utilization or conservation of the field’s associated gas without routine flaring. Oil companies with routine flaring at existing oil fields they operate will seek to implement economically viable solutions to eliminate this legacy flaring as soon as possible, and no later than 2030. Development institutions that endorse the Initiative will facilitate cooperation and implementation, and consider the use of financial instruments and other measures, particularly in their client countries. The World Bank will also coordinate a public reporting function. .
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