Schlumberger is committed to reducing methane emissions from oil and gas operations

The company has joined forces with the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) to achieve its goal of achieving zero methane emissions by the year 2030.

Schlumberger has recently joined the Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative to help energy companies reduce the warming impact of their operational methane emissions.

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) created the project, which has two levels of participants: signatories and supporters.

Signatories include oil, natural gas, and other fossil fuel producers, refiners, and marketers, excluding coal. Participating companies agree to reduce methane emissions from their operations to near zero by 2030. As part of the agreement, the companies agree to use all reasonable efforts to avoid methane venting and flaring, as well as to repair detected leaks, while protecting people's safety and the integrity of operations.

Energy service and technology companies that can assist producers, refiners, and marketers in meeting their methane reduction targets are among those who support the initiative. Schlumberger, as an Aiming for Zero supporter, will collaborate closely with the initiative's signatories to provide consultative expertise and technology solutions for detection and abatement, as well as to assist in addressing the challenges of a dynamic regulatory reporting environment.

"By joining the initiative, Schlumberger's management sends a strong message that they share the ambition to eliminate methane leaks in the oil and gas industry,"

said Bjrn Otto Sverdrup, chairman of the OGCI's executive committee.

According to OGCI, the Aiming for Zero initiative is intended to supplement and not duplicate the work of other multistakeholder initiatives such as the Methane Guiding Principles, the Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, and the Global Methane Alliance. In March of this year, the initiative was launched.

The industry's emphasis on methane. Because of the potency of methane as a greenhouse gas (GHG), scientists and policymakers have focused heavily on it in recent years. Methane has 84 times the warming power of CO2 emissions in the first 20 years after emissions enter the atmosphere. To put this impact into perspective, methane is directly responsible for 0.5 C of the 1.1 C that the planet has already warmed.

At around 80 million tons per year, the oil and gas industry is one of the largest sources of methane emissions today. "Those emissions will have the same climate impact as almost all of the world's annual CO2 emissions," said Kahina Abdeli-Galinier, Schlumberger's emissions business director.

Schlumberger End-to-end Emissions Solutions (SEES) is led by Abdeli-Galinier, who is responsible for reducing emissions from methane and routine flare. SEES, which was launched at the start of the year, assists Schlumberger customers in identifying and quantifying the source of their methane emissions and deploying the best-matched emissions reduction strategy for their operations.

"The SEES business brings a science-based and operational approach to managing methane emissions,"

said Abdeli-Galinier.

"We take actions to abate emissions and track methane emissions reduction over time through continuous monitoring after we perform a baseline measurement and identify the root cause of the emissions."

The collected emissions data can then be fed into a digital platform that integrates with other data from the company's operations. This yields valuable insights, according to Abdeli-Galinier, which can assist operators in developing the most cost-effective and efficient strategies for meeting emissions reduction and reporting goals.

A resolvable issue Much of the technology for both detecting and mitigating methane emissions already exists. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that using current technologies, the industry can reduce methane emissions by 70% by 2030. Furthermore, industry experts estimate that approximately 40% of these emissions can be avoided at no net cost because the cost of abatement is less than the typical market value of the captured gas.

Schlumberger, according to Abdeli-Galinier, can provide a wide range of measurement and abatement solutions from its portfolio and a large partner network of technology providers, for everything from handheld detectors and low emissions valves to satellites, continuous monitors, and instrument air systems. The company also has a large global footprint to deploy these solutions, with a presence in 120 countries.

"Schlumberger has strong partnerships and works with many oil, gas, and energy companies,"

Sverdrup said.

"We have the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that our industry is serious about addressing the climate crisis by eliminating methane emissions and routine flaring,"

Abdeli-Galinier said.

"As a supporter of the Aiming for Zero initiative, we make it very clear to signatory participants that we support their goals and have the expertise and capabilities to help them achieve zero methane emissions by 2030 or sooner."

Visit www.slb.com/SEES to learn more about SEES.

Source: slb.com