BP, US EDF To Work on Cutting Leaks
UK major BP and the US Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) plan a three-year strategic commitment to cutting methane emissions from the global oil and gas supply chain, BP said March 13.
The two will test technologies and strategies to improve methane management, and also work with universities and third party experts. Among the initiatives, BP is to grant up to $500,000 to fund research work led by Colorado State University (CSU), but there will be no direct transfer of money from BP to EDF.
"BP is taking a leading role in addressing methane emissions, and this collaboration with EDF is another important step forward for us and for our industry," upstream boss Bernard Looney told the Cera Week conference in Houston.
The president of EDF, Fred Krupp, said: "BP's commitment to push the next frontier of methane technology and practice is important to prove out solutions that oil and gas companies can use to accelerate emission reductions. The scale of the methane challenge is enormous, but so is the opportunity. Whether natural gas can play a constructive role in the energy transition depends on aggressive measures to reduce emissions that include methane."
He added, "EDF and BP don't agree on everything, but we're finding common ground on methane. BP has shown early ambition to lead on methane technology. We hope to see more as BP delivers on its own stringent methane goal and we work together to spread solutions industrywide."
The collaboration will also facilitate industry dialogue about the best practices to monitor and reduce emissions. EDF will provide input on science, technology and policy. These areas of work build on BP's methane reduction target; EDF's extensive methane research, business analyses and other innovation projects; and both organisations' participation in the Methane Guiding Principles, a multi-stakeholder initiative aimed at broad engagement to continually reduce emissions globally.
In 2019, BP and EDF will convene a workshop to learn about practices for emission reductions at non-operated assets and to identify potential opportunities to expand the coverage of methane efforts and commitments.