The amount of the powerful climate-changing gas methane spilling out of oil and gas equipment, coal mines and landfills globally is nowhere near fully documented and what is known is “only scratching the surface” according to the CEO of one the companies that tracks methane with its own satellites. Rather than improving, the methane emissions problem is worsening according to Stephane Germain of GHGSat. “The past year, we've detected more emissions than ever before,” he said.
Since late 2023, GHGSat satellites detected about 20,000 sites worldwide that qualify as super-emitters, or sites hemorrhaging at 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of methane per hour. That marks a major increase over the year before when the company detected about 15,000 super-emitting sites. Germain said the numbers were rounded to enable a discussion of emissions since countries made pledges to reduce methane at the 2023 global climate talks known as COP28, in Dubai.
He provided a briefing in anticipation of the next round, COP29, which will open soon in Baku, Azerbaijan. Last year, 50 oil companies representing nearly half of global production signed a pledge to nearly eliminate methane emissions and end the routine burning off of the gas in their operations by 2030. In many countries, methane, or natural gas, is flared — wasted — rather than captured in pipelines and used to make electricity or cook.
That's because operators are after the oil, not the gas that lies in the formation with it. Alm.
