Eni publishes its first Methane Report, underlining commitment to reducing global methane emissions

San Donato Milanese (Milan), 24 September 2024 – On the occasion of the IEA-COP29 High-Level Event on Turning Methane Pledges Into Action, in New York, Eni announces the publication of its first dedicated “Methane Report 2024”, a milestone that underscores the company’s commitment to transparency and reducing global methane emissions.         

The standalone report recognizes the key role abating methane emissions within the Oil and Gas sector can play in the fight against climate change. It details Eni’s actions to reduce methane emissions across its operations and how the company shares this expertise with others in the sector.

Eni believes that natural gas has a role in the energy transition pathway to 2050 because of its affordability, reliability, versatility, and low carbon content compared to other fossil fuels. However, global action is needed to eliminate methane leakage throughout the natural gas value chain. Driven by a strong internal focus, Eni has been committed to reducing methane emissions in its operations for over a decade. Understanding the urgency to act and the need for in-depth knowledge of its assets has resulted in developing monitoring and mitigation technologies, using them in the field, and implementing an increasingly reliable reporting system aligned with international best practices.

Key statistics YE 2023:

• Eni Group’s direct methane emissions more than halved over the past six years (2018-2023);
• Upstream methane intensity of 0.06% places Eni among the leaders in the industry;
• 95% reduction in fugitive methane emissions and an 86% reduction in methane intensity across our Upstream operations in 2023 since 2014;
• 20% reduction in methane emissions in Eni’s Upstream business from 2022 to 2023;
• OGMP 2.0 Gold Standard Pathway obtained for reporting year 2022;
• Agreements in place with several National Oil Companies to share and apply Eni’s methane reduction approach and best practices;
• Targeting near zero methane emissions by 2030.

Technologies used for the detection of methane emissions

In line with the evolving international guidelines defined by the Oil & Gas Methane Partnership 2.0, Eni uses the best available technologies on the market, most of which exploit methane optical characteristics (light absorption in the infrared spectrum) to assess its concentration in the air and to compute the emitted flow rate using local weather data.

To continuously improve the quality of our data reporting for methane detection: on one side, innovative technologies are scouted and tested in the field to validate their capabilities; on the other side, Eni bridges the gap between needs and market-available technologies through internal development in collaboration with external partners.

Collaboration in methane initiatives

Eni is a founding member of the UNEP Oil & Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP), the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), and Methane Guiding Principles (MGP) and actively participates in expert groups with international organizations, institutions, non profit organizations, academia and industry associations, such as IPIECA and IOGP. These collaborations have helped define the scale of the methane emissions issue with increasing accuracy, develop best practices for monitoring, reporting, and verification, and foster the deployment of new technologies for monitoring and abatement of emissions across the sector, such as through the OGCI founded Climate Investment.

Supporting policy development and National Oil Companies (NOCs)

Eni is a signatory of the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), a milestone initiative launched at COP28 that will help align the sector towards transparent and concrete actions to reduce emissions, including methane and flaring.

Eni has also signed collaboration agreements with NOCs, including EGAS, Sonatrach and SOCAR, aimed at sharing its industry-leading experience in methane management to enable methane reduction across the sector.

Commenting on the publication of the Methane Report 2024, Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Eni, said:

“We are proud to publish the Methane Report 2024, which highlights Eni’s role as a pioneer in the implementation of methane management approaches.

Our strong focus on methane emissions abatement, coupled with the application of new technologies has positioned Eni as an industry leader and significantly reduced our methane emissions over the past decade. We are now pleased to apply our own learnings in partnership with others in the sector and supply chain, to help deliver meaningful methane reductions across the oil and gas value chain.  As we look to the future, our commitment remains firmly fixed on delivering our target of near-zero methane emissions by 2030”.