OGCI supports the goals of the Paris Agreement and the need for the world to move to a net zero carbon emissions future. This will require an energy transition and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas.
OGCI and its members by taking individual and collective action will help accelerate the energy transition through deep reductions in greenhouse gases.
To support this, OGCI’s first strategic ambition is to achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from operations under the 12 members’ control and to use their influence to achieve the same in non-operated assets within the Paris Agreement timeframe.
This includes an ambition to achieve near zero methane emissions from operated oil and gas assets and zero routine flaring by 2030.1
OGCI is a platform where member companies can explore what is possible and what stakeholders expect, agree on collective targets and goals and take collective action, while sharing knowledge on measuring and tackling key emission sources. Key emission sources include energy used in production, flaring, methane leaks and methane venting.
OGCI tracks and reports annual progress of its member companies’ GHG emissions reductions in its Performance Data (Chapter 4). EY verifies the data submitted by the companies, anonymizes it and reviews the consolidated data.
Equinor’s Gina Krog platform is largely powered by hydroelectricity to reduce emissions.
According to OGCI’s aggregated Performance Data for 2023:2
- OGCI member companies’ collective upstream carbon intensity was 17.9 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent (kg CO2e/boe).
- This represents a 21% decrease compared with the 2017 baseline and a progression towards the group’s 2025 target of 17 kg CO2e/boe.
- OGCI member companies’ total operated GHG emissions (Scope 1) were 575 million tonnes of CO2e in 2023, a 19% decrease since 2017.
- OGCI member companies’ collective upstream methane intensity was 0.14%, a 54% decrease versus 2017.
- Total operated upstream methane emissions was 0.89 Mt, 55% lower than in 2017.
Reducing upstream carbon intensity
In 2020, OGCI members announced a target to reduce collective average upstream carbon intensity from operated oil and gas assets to between 20 kg and 21 kg CO2e/boe by 2025. Due to quicker-than expected progress, the target was updated in 2021 to 17 kg CO2e/boe by 2025.
In 2023, OGCI member companies’ collective upstream carbon intensity was 17.9 kg CO2e/boe. This translates into a 3% reduction in total operated GHG emissions (Scope 1) across all sectors in 2023 versus 2022.3
Upstream carbon intensity is down 21% since 2017
(kilograms of CO2e per boe)
How our members reduce carbon intensity
Near zero methane emissions
Zero routine flaring by 2030
Co-generate electricity and use recovered heat
Electrify some operations with low-carbon power
Improve energy efficiency
Actions taken by OGCI member companies to reduce upstream operated carbon intensity include:
- Reducing methane emissions through a program of methane leak detection, equipment repair, maintenance, and the elimination of routine flaring and non-emergency venting.
- Implementing energy efficiency and optimization measures, including more efficient combustion of natural gas to reduce emissions from flaring and using recovered heat more efficiently.
- Using low-carbon electricity instead of fossil fuels to power operations, including at offshore oil platforms.
Reducing upstream methane intensity
In 2018, OGCI members agreed to a collective average upstream methane intensity target4 for operated oil and gas assets of 0.25% by 2025. Due to quicker-than-expected progress, the target was updated in 2021 to well below 0.20%.
Setting the target provided a metric for OGCI member companies to assess their progress on methane reductions, helping companies to achieve efficient emissions reductions at their operations.
In 2023, OGCI member companies’ collective aggregate operated upstream methane intensity was 0.14%, well below the 0.20% target.5
This reduction in intensity has translated into a 7% decrease in total operated methane emissions upstream in 2023 versus 2022.
OGCI’s upstream methane intensity target now serves as a standard for other oil and gas producers to strive for.
It is central to the Aiming for Zero Methane Emissions Initiative that OGCI launched in 2022 (see Chapter 2), and is recognized by NGOs, the UN’s Environment Programme and governments as best practice. It is also included as one of the core ambitions of the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter that was launched at COP28 in Dubai (see Chapter 2).
Upstream methane intensity is down 54% since 2017
*Percentages are rounded. 2022 was 0.144%, 2023 was 0.137%.
How our members reduce methane emissions
Expand leak detection and repair campaigns
Replace or upgrade high-emitting devices
Reduce natural gas flaring
Reduce venting in new and existing assets
Actions taken by OGCI member companies to reduce methane emissions include:
- Methane reduction projects such as conversions of pneumatic devices.
- The continuation of a campaign to detect and repair leaks, equipment repair and maintenance.
- Flaring reduction projects to reduce upstream flaring volumes.
- Reductions to flaring greenhouse gas emissions and non-emergency venting and the installation of additional online compressor stations and other flare reduction projects.
Measuring methane
Over the past decade, there’s been a big push to improve the measurement of methane emissions in the oil and gas sector through monitoring, reporting and verification – a move that OGCI supports.
Accurately measuring methane emissions is critically important to prioritizing activities to mitigate methane. Previously, methane emissions were typically assessed and reported using standard emission factors based on aggregating available global data and data from specific basins.
This method did not always reflect what was happening at a particular site or asset and did not necessarily pick up sources of methane emissions in the oil and gas industry. This resulted in wide disparities in methane emissions estimates.
Now new technologies, including monitoring with satellites, drones and sensors, make it easier to detect and better quantify methane emissions. OGCI’s member companies are using these technologies to address their methane emissions in a more meaningful way.
Through its flagship Satellite Monitoring Campaign (SMC), OGCI has helped demonstrate the use of satellites in detecting methane emissions so they can be located and abated. (See Chapter 2 for more detail on the SMC.)
OGCI’s work to reduce methane emissions will continue as measurement technologies and methodologies evolve.
One notable change to reporting methodologies is in the US, where the Environmental Protection Agency has updated the methods for calculating methane emissions.
This is expected to increase reported methane emissions of companies operating in the US from 2024 onwards. While the numbers might change, OGCI member companies will continue to focus on reducing methane emissions.
Ten OGCI member companies are now part of the UN Environment Programme’s Oil and Gas Methane Partnership 2.0 (OGMP 2.0).
OGMP 2.0 is a comprehensive, measurementbased reporting framework for the oil and gas industry aiming to improve the accuracy and transparency of methane emissions reporting to aid methane mitigation actions.
Other measures to reduce Scope 1 and 2 emissions
In 2023 and 2024, member companies worked to accelerate their reduction of operational Scope 1 and 2 emissions. The group:
- Continued to upgrade data quantification, reporting and transparency;
- Continued to improve knowledge on emissions abatement curves available for the industry;
- Identified potential pathways to significantly reduce emissions in the refining sector by using low-carbon electricity instead of fossil fuels to power some equipment;
- Is following up work on refinery emissions reduction pathways with a study on the economics of refinery electrification, assessing operating expenditures considerations and the influence of power, fuel and carbon pricing;
- Will study heat pump applications and evaluate a range of applications for heat pumps across upstream, midstream and downstream;
- Shared best practices developed individually and collectively by OGCI and its members to accelerate progress across the industry;
- Intensified engagement with signatories to the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC) which shares the same net zero ambitions as OGCI (see Chapter 2).
- Per the World Bank “Zero Routine Flaring by 2030” Initiative
- All reported data is the aggregate for 12 companies, (unless otherwise stated in the tables), and independently verified by EY. One member company has been unable to submit audited performance data in time for the publication of the 2024 Progress Report and 2022 data for that company has been used in place of the 2023 data. Data for 2023 will be updated as needed in the next annual Progress Report, which is expected to be published in the fourth quarter of 2025.
- This figure includes direct (Scope 1) emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide (for those companies that report it) from all operated activities (upstream as well as downstream, which includes refineries and petrochemicals). The methane emissions were converted to CO2 equivalent using a 100-year time horizon global warming potential (GWP) of 25 for fossil-based methane as per IPCC AR4. Using the IPCC AR6 GWP of 29.8, the operated greenhouse gas emissions were 595 MtCO2e in 2022 and 580 MtCO2e in 2023. OGCI Performance Data, Chapter 4.
- Includes total upstream methane emissions from all operated gas and oil assets. Emissions intensity is calculated as a share of marketed gas.
- OGCI Performance Data, Chapter 4.
