A sustainable roadmap for the oil & gas sector

In an exclusive interview with Energy Connects Quarterly Review, Paul Krishna, Chair of IPIECA, outlines a sustainable roadmap for the global oil and gas sector, underscoring the pivotal role of natural gas in shaping the pathway to a low-emissions future. He elaborated on IPIECA’s mandate in advancing environmental and social performance across the energy transition, and also discussed how the industry could accelerate the reduction of methane emissions. Here are the edited excerpts:

Can you tell us more about IPIECA and its mandate?

IPIECA was created in 1974 as a principal channel between the oil and gas industry and the United Nations through the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP). Today it represents the oil and gas associations and oil and gas companies across the environmental social performance of the energy transition. It has about 80 members – of which almost 50 are companies and the rest are global oil and gas associations representing about a million employees with operations spanning 180 countries.

All our members are very focused on four sustainability pillars: around nature, people, climate, and sustainability. And very much focused in an alignment on a number of the conventions to improve the environment, people, and the energy transition.

"I think methane's going to be on the radar for a while. There’s a lot of technology-related challenges. Measurement is one of the areas: so we can detect, but can you measure? There's some operational challenges. We've seen the impact on reduced emissions on the production sector, but across the value chain, those emissions may not have come down as fast. So I think there'll be a focus on that as you look at the whole methane value chain and its support of LNG to make it a superior energy product."

As an organisation, that's a huge scope and a mandate … what are your thoughts on the role of natural gas as the key to the energy transition?

Natural gas is critical to the energy transition. When you look at it as an energy source and you compare it to the sources it's replacing, such as coal, it's got significant benefits that help the climate. And in some countries, economically, it makes the most sense to use natural gas.

And do you think there's enough being invested to create a sustainable pathway for natural gas?

I think so. I'm based in the US and so I’ve seen the shale gas revolution, and there's a significant amount of natural gas here. I think those opportunities exist worldwide. And so I think there's a significant opportunity for that and along its value chain through LNG.

One of the areas that you're focusing on over the past few years is methane emissions reduction. Can you tell us more about why it is so critical to reduce methane emissions and what is IPIECA doing in this regard?

Methane emissions are very important to the industry, significant from a global warming potential. And when you look at anthropogenic methane, the oil and gas sector has their part that they need to address. If you go back to 2017 and you look at the improvements that companies have made to their operations, you will see equipment changes, practices change, a lot more training on raising awareness, and then most importantly, leak detection and repair, which is a concept that was very known in our downstream and manufacturing operations and is now deployed upstream.

What we're finding with that is there’s lots of ways to detect methane: you can detect it on the ground with cameras, you can detect it with sensors, you can go up in the atmosphere, drones, planes, balloons, and satellites. So there are plenty of opportunities to detect, and the goal is to find those sources and then be able to fix them and reduce the duration of releases.

In this regard, can you talk to us about some of the global partnerships that you have in enabling low methane emissions?

IPIECA is a member of the Industrial Transition Accelerator – which came out of the climate COPS. One of the key areas we're focused on right now is bringing together oil and gas companies to showcase their low carbon solution arms and then bringing together hard to decarbonise industries. In one of our last meetings that we had in London, we had the steel industry there, we had cement, we had oil and gas. I think one of the ways that we can help accelerate the energy transition is using the convening power that IPIECA has on a global stage to bring those partners together.

It's good to know that you're also expanding to include hard-to-abate sectors. And what else are you doing to help the upstream sector align with the Paris Agreement?

A number of companies in IPIECA have set their ambitions in alignment with the Net Zero by 2050 for Scope One, Scope Two emissions. A number of them also have made commitments about 2030 on methane emissions. So I think globally, IPIECA is supporting those and working with our other sister associations. that are involved with that. Those are common discussion topics that usually come up at the COPs.

That's an excellent point because in COP28, there was a whole lot of focus on methane. What momentum do you see for that going forward?

I think methane's going to be on the radar for a while. There’s a lot of technology-related challenges. Measurement is one of the areas: so we can detect, but can you measure? There's some operational challenges. We've seen the impact on reduced emissions on the production sector, but across the value chain, those emissions may not have come down as fast. So I think there'll be a focus on that as you look at the whole methane value chain and its support of LNG to make it a superior energy product.

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