The concerted efforts of The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) to address and report on methane emissions from its business, have led to the company’s achievement of Gold Standard status of reporting under the global Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0). This achievement - attained by companies with clearly elaborated targets to reduce methane emissions by 2025 - comes just one year after the company joined the OGMP community. The OGMP is a multi-stakeholder global partnership to improve the accuracy and transparency of methane emissions reporting, which is key to methane mitigation in the oil and gas sector. It is the only comprehensive measurement-based reporting framework covering all material sources of methane emissions from both operated and non-operated assets across all segments of the value chain.
Commenting on the achievement, NGC President Mark Loquan noted: “We at NGC are demonstrably intent on reducing methane emissions in our business operations, which in turn supports Trinidad and Tobago’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) 2030 goals. This involves setting clear targets, as well as leveraging the expertise of global partners to help us achieve them and keep us accountable. NGC is also working very closely with our non-operated joint ventures (NOJVs) and other energy sector partners to reduce methane emissions locally. The OGMP’s assignment of Gold Standard status to NGC is an international acknowledgement of the work we have committed to do over the coming years to bring methane emissions down, to minimise our carbon impact and maximise the sustainability of the local natural gas sector.”
NGC’s achievement of Gold Standard status under the OGMP 2.0 was revealed in the second edition of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) International Methane Emissions Observatory (IMEO) publication, An Eye on Methane. This publication was launched at ADIPEC - an influential gathering of oil, gas and energy experts hosted by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) - on 31 October 2022 in Abu Dhabi.
NGC joined the OGMP in 2021, making the voluntary commitment to set targets for reducing fugitive and vented methane emissions from its business, and report on its performance. This was the latest step taken by the company in its campaign to track and reduce the methane output from its operations. That campaign has included the acquisition of field-based equipment to detect fugitive emissions along pipelines and gas handling infrastructure at the source level, and a partnership with Netherlands-based service provider Orbital Eye to detect emissions through satellite imaging. NGC is also represented on the International Gas Union (IGU) Methane experts panel and works in close collaboration with both IGU and OGMP on this global initiative.
Under the OGMP 2.0 framework, there are different tiers of reporting to which member companies can aspire, based on declared targets and the rigour of measurement tools and methodologies. To reach Gold Standard status of reporting, companies need to announce 2025 absolute reduction or near-zero intensity targets. Target setting is a complex exercise requiring a good understanding by companies of their emissions profile.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas (GHG) with 80 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide on a 20-year timescale. It is the primary component of natural gas, and one of the main GHG emissions of the energy sector. Implementing plans and technologies for tracking, measuring and mitigating methane emissions from energy infrastructure is therefore a critical concern of climate action plans.