Offshore staff
LONDON — Trade association Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has issued new guidelines to help UK offshore oil and gas companies reduce methane emissions from their production of oil and gas.
The guidelines coincide with implementation of the association’s Methane Action Plan (MAP), one of the targets of last year’s North Sea Transition Deal between the UK government and the offshore oil and gas industry.
Methane is thought to have 20 to 86 times the impact of carbon emissions. Globally, the oil and gas industry is said to be the third largest emitter of methane after agriculture and waste.
It has a shorter atmospheric lifespan compared to CO2, OEUK added, so reducing methane emissions can have a near-immediate positive impact on the atmosphere that carbon reductions alone cannot achieve.
MAP commits the sector to halve its methane emissions by 2030 from levels in 2018 and to adopt the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) methane intensity target of 0.25% by 2025.
It also recommends that companies and owners of offshore installations set up their own action plans by year-end 2023. The guidelines should provide assistance in terms of identification of methane sources, detection and measurement, quantification, and abatement
OEUK’s Emissions Improvement Manager Thibaut Cheret said, “Although the offshore oil and gas industry represents just 2.7% of total UK methane emissions, we recognize that there’s always more to be done. These guidelines will help steer the sector on its journey to net zero, showing wider leadership as to what can be achieved, even in a mature basin.”
08.11.2022
