Mexico’s energy companies are flouting methane emissions rules, investigators say
MEXICO CITY, 25 January (Reuters) – Mexico’s oil and gas companies, including the state giant Pemex, in a study conducted by a group of non-profit organizations to determine methane emissions from their facilities, report they fall behind in fulfilling their obligations to give and reduce.
Methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that traps heat in the atmosphere, has emerged as a major threat to the climate.
Government regulation of oil and gas must identify and measure methane emissions from their companies and submit a methane emissions prevention and integrated control program (PPCIEM) to the environmental regulator.
Investigators from the Mexico Methane Emissions Observatory, an alliance of three nonprofit organizations, found that so far only 7% of regulated entities have submitted some of the required documents.
A company may have to meet documentation requirements for several parts of its operations.
Pemex, which dominates the sector, provided documents for only two of the regulated entities – although investigators stressed that it was unclear whether this included all facilities.
For the vast majority of installations in Mexico, there is no certainty of compliance, they found.
Pemex did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The documents were requested by Mexico’s transparency institute last November from three different regulators and the energy ministry.
“Controlling methane emissions is what Mexico can and must do to meet its international obligations,” said Adrian Fernandez, a former environmental official who founded the Mexico Climate Initiative, one of the nonprofits backing the alliance.
“There are great challenges in reducing methane emissions, but at least oil and gas technology already exists and is available in the sector,” he said.
Reuters reported last year that satellites had detected two large methane leaks at an offshore platform owned by Pemex in the Gulf of Mexico.
According to the Global Methane Tracker 2022 published by the International Energy Agency, Mexico is the world’s tenth largest emitter of methane.
Research increasingly shows that reducing methane production is critical to keeping global warming within 2 degrees Celsius – above pre-industrial levels – to avoid the worst effects of climate change.
Reporting by Stefanie Eschenbacher; Edited by Aurora Ellis
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2023-01-26 03:13:39
Source – reuters
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