This consolidates the status of methane emissions inventories in the region and will work on measures to reduce these emissions.
The Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE) presented the first results of the Latin American and Caribbean Methane Emission Observatory (OEMLAC), which has ambitious goals, such as:
- Standardize methodological consistency in national methane inventories
- Establish an aggregated emissions database, and
- Develop regional capacities to manage these emissions sustainably.
OEMLAC, established during the LII Meeting of Ministers, aims to support the countries of the region in identifying technical needs for the collection, monitoring and supervision of information on methane emissions in support of their methane emission reduction commitments.
OLADE’s Executive Secretary, Andrés Rebolledo indicated that with this Observatory, “we will be able to trace the path towards the development of a Low Emissions Natural Gas industry, which will imply the elimination of methane throughout the value chain, together with the decarbonization of its production and the capture of CO2 resulting from its use as a fuel.”
Rebolledo stressed at the launch that “incorporating technologies and policies to mitigate methane gas is an opportunity that has a double dimension. On the one hand, environmental, for what it means as an opportunity for accelerated mitigation, and on the other hand, from a medium and long-term perspective, it is a great economic opportunity, since recently foreign investment is increasingly based on the decarbonization of the energy matrix of our countries. A cleaner matrix is an attribute of competitiveness of our region.”
For his part, the coordinator of the Project, Carlos de Regules, pointed out that “Methane is responsible for around 30% of the increase in global temperature. A reduction in their emissions translates into a drop in temperature rise in the near term, and 75% of annual methane emissions can be avoided by 2030 using existing technologies, at no net cost.”
With 20 countries, representing more than 95% of the production and more than 90% of the methane emissions associated with hydrocarbons, participating in this initiative, OEMLAC will be a regional reference in the management and reduction of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Communications and Institutional
Relations Department
josefa.corral@olade.org