This is an overview of global methane emissions, from which there are 4 takeaways:

1. Viewed ‘post-Covid’, global methane emissions are rising not falling.

The concept of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) priorities is increasingly shaping the way we approach global challenges. For businesses, investors, and policymakers alike, ESG frameworks provide a lens through which to evaluate environmental stewardship, social equity, and responsible governance.

The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29), held in Baku, Azerbaijan, concluded with a pivotal breakthrough: a renewed commitment to strengthening climate finance for developing nations.

Plastics have become a significant issue, not just for consumers but for companies, spanning production, recycling, and environmental impacts. While we can’t eliminate plastics entirely, it’s critical to limit their use to essential applications and eliminate unnecessary items,

The UK’s North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has recently published its review of 2023 flaring and emissions performance(1) together with a helpful ‘dashboard’(2) which offers details, with some very useful cross-plots.

Anaerobic Digesters(ADs) are seen as a relatively new, ‘green’, renewable energy source (of methane) which we review in our latest report. Key takeaways are:

Future Energy Partners (FEP) recently hosted a comprehensive ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) training program for LEAD (League of East African Directors) from 27 – 29 August 2024 at the Sheraton Hotel Kampala.

The apprenticeship system creates a workforce to support the growth of the economy of a nation. Its goal is to build the capacity of the engines of economic growth – education and industrialisation.

Landfills are an eyesore, attractive only to seagulls, and – as we document in our new report – unpleasant (at least) for our environment.

Our new report leaves little doubt that there are significant volumes of methane emissions from the U.K. and EU gas grids that as yet go largely unmonitored, unmeasured and unreported, both by asset and by operator.

The Tilenga project, located in Uganda’s Buliisa and Nwoya districts near Lake Albert, is operated by TotalEnergies in partnership with CNOOC and UNOC. The name “Tilenga” combines the local names for the Uganda Kob: “Til” in Acholi and “Engabi” in Lugungu. This project involves developing six oil fields.

This is a message that relies quite a bit on my personal experiences, I apologise for that!
My argument is that we have arrived at a somewhat ‘settled science’ for subsurface technology, in particular for Exploration

To celebrate US Independence Day, Thunder Said Energy (TSE) aka Rob West produced a very insightful analysis of global emissions performance as compared with the US’s US: CO2 emissions 

This graphic is a detailed summary of a recently concluded EMPIR project “Decarbonising the Gas Grid”, co-funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the EMPIR Participating States. This is a verbatim description of the intent:

The European Union has reached a provisional agreement on its slowly emergent emissions legislation, which aims to reduce carbon emissions from its domestic industries. To protect these industries from higher carbon regimes elsewhere….

Landfills are a major source of methane because organic waste such as food, garden waste etc goes into landfills; when a landfill is ‘capped’ with a membrane and/or a thin layer of clay, this organic waste enters an anaerobic state and generates methane.

Sub-Saharan Africa is a region rich in natural resources, particularly oil and gas. However, it is also a region that faces significant energy poverty.

The recent history of flaring and methane emissions onshore U.K. is a microcosm of the global pattern – either flatlining or going up!

In April 2024, a group of esteemed directors gathered at the Sheraton Hotel Kampala for an insightful Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) training session.

Robert Bryce has published an interesting review on actual trends in world energy consumption and I make no apologies for using one of his informative charts to start my short article.

We are hearing quite a lot nowadays about the significant amounts of CO2 that it’s planned will be tackled by Carbon Capture & Storage – around 10 million tonnes per year per project seems like a common number.

It’s well known that Waste Management – which includes landfills, anaerobic digesters and water treatment – is a large source of methane emissions.
Thanks to Climate Trace, we now have compilations of what’s been Reported by year in this sector.

For the past three years, my trusty VW Passat has been my faithful companion on the roads. It’s comfortable, a joy to drive, and has served me well. But lately, I’ve been contemplating a change. As I consider my next car, the allure of electric vehicles (EVs) beckons.

CATF reports that oil and gas imports to the European Union expose nearly 10 million people to the avoidable practice of flaring, which is known to release high levels of harmful chemicals. Through a strong methane import standard, the EU can dent global flaring emissions and decrease the health risk of nearby populations.

Experienced boards can bring valuable levels of industry expertise to a company but they can also carry the baggage of outdated ideas. Selecting and training a balanced, future-thinking board is key to a company’s triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit.

The rise of ESG in the last decade only solidifies the importance to companies of assembling strong boards, putting in place responsibilities and benchmarks, and reporting on their practices.

Britain’s journey towards net zero is a narrative rich with milestones and declarations of environmental leadership.

The energy landscape in the Caribbean has been a tale of pioneering discovery, peak production, and subsequent decline, interwoven with the potential for revival through strategic regional cooperation.

JP Morgan hosted their annual London Clean Tech Stars conference on 6-7 March 2024. This brought together the most innovative first movers in the decarbonisation space.

On Thursday 22 February 2024 Karl Jeffery, Publisher of Carbon Capture Journal, facilitated an online webinar exploring the developments in US carbon capture and storage.

Investing in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology presents a significant opportunity for reducing carbon emissions, particularly if investors are confident in the technology’s scalability and the timely, budget-compliant construction of facilities.

Future Energy Partners provides Training and ISO standards implementation services to companies irrespective of the sector and size as well as second-party audits in preparation for ISO Certification.

Many people are relying on emission trading schemes to make carbon capture and storage commercial, but it may never be enough to justify CCS investment by itself.

The top priority for any country developing new hydrocarbon reserves will probably be to get revenue and jobs as fast as possible.

‍Let’s imagine that the future is like this. Quality data about emissions is shared within our organisations as much as we share financial data. The reliability of the emissions data is as good as financial data.

If you want to improve your internal capability for gathering and reporting carbon footprint data, it may be helpful to see how your competitors look like from outside.

To gather useful data, we have drilled into the Flaring & Emissions Reporting and Plans for: 10 Majors (to be reported on shortly) and 12 E&Ps, namely Aker BP, Diversified Energy, Energean, Enquest, Harbour Energy,

Future Energy Partners can run workshops for your company to help you determine which emissions are material in your footprint, how to put together your model to measure / assess / reduce them, how to provide evidence to banks and others,

Oil and gas buyers are increasingly being asked for carbon data from their lenders / investors and for their own environmental reporting,

There are two particular areas where capacity building is very critical – governments of developing countries which need to regulate and drive their emerging exploration and production industries;

The UK has reported GHG Emissions since 1990 with the most recent (BEIS) report being ‘final’ to the end of 2020. Reporting is by sector – Transport, Energy Supply, Business, Residential, Agriculture, Waste

It may not necessarily require off setting customer emissions (a category of Scope 3 emissions) entirely at the E&P company’s cost. But it can involve commercial services.

There are – we could say – four main categories of emissions in the immediate term (our operations). Flaring, venting & fugitive methane emissions, fuel combustion and supplier emissions.

The South American country of Guyana started producing oil in 2020 and production is expected to be 750 kbopd by 2025. With a population of just 800,000

Perhaps the COP 26 event had something to do with it, or the availability of satellite images showing what oil and gas methane emissions are really like. Time will tell if the regulatory environment

She wrote, “consistent and high-quality, authentic, ESG reporting, backed up by a strong evidence base and superior quality supporting narrative

More and more oil and gas companies are issuing ‘Sustainability Reports’. Of course larger companies can dedicate more resources to these reports and some of them are‘audited’.

If you are a very large company you are probably already involved in a lot of projects. But for smaller ones, they don’t necessarily need to make a good story for the media or investors. They just want to make a return on their investment.