TotalEnergies will deploy methane tracking equipment on all of its operated upstream assets, stepping up efforts to reach near-zero methane emissions by 2030, the company said Nov. 14 at the 29th UN Climate Change Conference in Baku.
The tracking equipment was said to complement TotalEnergies existing portfolio of detection technologies, noting that it planned to install continuous, real-time identification tools for both fugitive and stationary emissions.
The technology would also implement immediate corrective actions to stop methane emissions, aided by the successful application of its Airborne Ultralight Spectrometer for Environmental Applications (AUSEA) drone campaigns, the company said.
Tracking equipment would be fully incorporated by the end of 2025, using technologies such as Internet of Things sensors, infrared cameras, flowmeters and predictive emissions monitoring systems on combustion sources.
"Continuous, real-time detection will enable our operators to act in an even more decisive manner in order to reduce our methane emissions and to repair leaks to achieve our near-zero methane emissions ambition," Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies said.
The company said it was on track to halve its methane emissions in 2024 compared to 2020 levels -- a year ahead of its initial target -- and achieve an 80% reduction by 2030.
The announcement comes as the topic of methane emissions remains in sharp focus for both policymakers and market participants.
The energy sector -- including oil, natural gas, coal and bioenergy -- accounts for nearly 40% of methane emissions from human activity. Other superpollutants like hydrofluorocarbons, nitrous oxide, and tropospheric ozone, are also considered more potent than CO2.
Methane is a much more powerful climate pollutant than carbon dioxide, with estimates suggesting it is more than 80 times more potent than CO2 over a 20-year time frame.
It also comes as several countries, industry bodies and financial institutions unveil a series of initiatives designed to tackle methane emissions abatement at COP29.
In a statement, the US Department of State said Nov. 12 that governments and philanthropy announced nearly $500 million in new global grant funding for methane abatement in 2024, bringing total international grant funding to over $2 billion to tackle superpollutants.
Similarly, the European Commission announced Nov. 12 the launch of a new Methane Abatement Partnership Roadmap, pledging to accelerate reductions in methane emissions associated with the production and consumption of fossil fuels.
Methane emissions generated by production are a significant contributor to the carbon intensity of natural gas.
Platts, part of S&P Global Commodity Insights, assesses methane performance certificates traded in the spot market that represent low methane emissions in natural gas production in the US and Canada.
Each MPC represents 1 MMBtu of gas with zero methane emissions produced. Platts reflects MPCs that have been issued against production that has a methane intensity of less than 0.1%.
Prices have recovered to $0.033/MPC on Nov. 13 after having fallen to just $0.008/MPC in mid-August 2023, Commodity Insights data showed.
