Today ExxonMobil has announced their commitment to begin using MiQ’s A-F certification process for natural gas produced at Poker Lake, New Mexico with the aim of creating transparency around its methane emissions. Approximately 200 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from Poker Lake will be assessed and certified and ExxonMobil is considering expanding certification to include other Permian Basin fields and shale production areas, including Appalachia and Haynesville.
In the words of UN Secretary General António Guterres, the latest IPCC report is “a code red for humanity… the evidence is irrefutable” – and its findings made it clear that rapid reductions in methane emissions are needed to keep climate goals within reach. We also echo the UN Secretary General’s call to ensure methane emissions are a focus of the upcoming COP26 discussions, and we are delighted to see that the issue is now being taken seriously by global companies and governments.
We believe reducing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector is a major opportunity to address climate change in the near term because it is 84x as potent as CO2 over a 20-year period, and yet it receives far less attention. Improving methane emissions performance by 0.2% in the global oil and gas sector by 2030, would abate 5.7 gigatonnes per year of CO2e from the atmosphere – equivalent to taking 1.2 billion combustion engine cars off the road. This step would help dramatically in limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees.
ExxonMobil is one of the top five natural gas producers in the world, and the Poker Lake facility in the Permian Basic will be the company’s first for natural gas certification. Using the MiQ certification process embodies a commitment to transparency, accountability, and granularity from partner companies around methane emissions, and the announcement with ExxonMobil follows similar MiQ partnerships with EQT, Bloom Energy and Chesapeake over its first year of operation.
MiQ is pioneering a market-based approach to rapidly reduce methane emissions across the natural gas sector. By differentiating natural gas based on methane emissions performance, these partnerships will help drive the reductions in methane emissions that the world needs. To learn more about the certification process click here.
Georges Tijbosch, senior advisor at MiQ said: “We’re pleased to be working with ExxonMobil at Poker Lake and look forward to a fruitful long-term partnership that creates a differentiated, more transparent and cleaner gas market. These steps and the rapid reduction of methane emissions is critical to the world achieving its climate goals.”
Bart Cahir, senior vice president of unconventional at ExxonMobil said: “We are reducing methane emissions responsibly and economically, and by working with MiQ, we can provide our customers with credible third-party validation of those efforts. As we improve our operations, certifying our natural gas will help our customers achieve their goals and support a lower-carbon future.”
