Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla has announced that the Egyptian petroleum sector is in the process of signing an agreement to set a roadmap for methane reduction in the industry.

He elaborated that this will be through the technical support provided by the United States Trade and Development Agency (USTDA). It is expected to be signed during COP28, he added.

The announcement was during his speech at the opening of a session titled “Methane Emissions Abatement: New Business Opportunities and International Cooperation”, organized by the European Union (EU) at its pavilion in the Blue Zone.

The panel included Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy; Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA); Stefan Wenzel, German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action; and moderated by Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director General for Energy of the European Commission.

Additionally, the minister highlighted the efforts of the Egyptian government to limit the consequences of climate change, adapt to its negative impact, and get the benefit of the international momentum towards methane emissions reduction which is the main element of the Egyptian petroleum sector strategy for carbon emissions reduction.

He also elaborated that Egypt is working on implementing the World Bank (WB) initiative’s goals to limit the routine burning of flare gas by 2030, an effort which Egypt has joined. El Molla noted the success of the Egyptian oil and gas sector in establishing 30 projects to benefit from the flare gas and stop its burning which saved about $200 million annually and reduced the emissions by 1.4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually.

The Minister pointed out the completion of two campaigns to measure methane gas emissions in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which covered more than 30 production sites. The results of the two campaigns revealed that emissions at those sites are less than global standard limits and that companies are implementing leak detection and repair programs in a periodical manner.

Moreover, the participants discussed the available opportunities to reduce methane emissions in the petroleum sector and the progress of monitoring and measuring the emissions to inform about it. They also discussed how to pave the way to develop the mechanisms of providing the data and information related to methane emissions. Furthermore, they touched on the ways of cooperation between the private and public sectors for methane emission reduction and recovery of flare gas.

For his part, Birol thanked El Molla for his effective efforts with the IEA and for developing the bilateral cooperation between the two sides. El Molla expressed his looking forward to boosting cooperation with the IEA and Egypt’s pride to join the agency as a participating member.