Jonah Energy has become the first U.S. oil and gas producer to submit methane emissions data and is on track to earn a "Gold Standard" emissions rating from the United Nations-sponsored Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP), the company announced in a statement.
OGMP is an initiative launched by the UN Environment Programme and the Climate and Clean Air Coalition as the only broad multi-national and multi-stakeholder partnership working on methane emissions measurement and reporting protocols. OGMP creates a credible platform to help member companies demonstrate actual emission reductions.
OGMP's Gold Standard rating is predicated on establishing a pathway to verified emissions measurement at both a source and an overall site level. Measurement is conducted with a variety of technologies, including ground-based fixed measurement devices, drone-based sensors, aerial laser scanning, and satellite-based asset-wide measurement. These tools provide a far more accurate accounting of a company's emissions profile, allowing for continuous reduction and elimination of emission sources.
"We believe that natural gas will play an important role in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the global energy value chain, but the industry must be transparent for natural gas to achieve its full potential," said Tom Hart, Jonah Energy's president and CEO. "The OGMP 2.0 framework is the leading example of an independent, verifiable and measured performance standard that will help create that transparency."
"Jonah Energy's participation in OGMP 2.0 is just one component of our Responsibly Produced Gas initiative, which seeks to make us a leading low emission producer and preferred partner for utilities and their customers concerned about the impacts of climate change," Hart continued.
According to the statement: Jonah's multi-year efforts to innovate around emissions monitoring, measurement and reduction have resulted in one of the lowest documented emissions profiles of any producer in the US. Jonah's work, and similar efforts by other producers who take this challenge seriously, will result in a differentiated gas marketplace for consumers concerned about emissions. Furthermore, a market for differentiated, low-emission American natural gas will also support global climate goals through its global export as liquified natural gas.
"We applaud Jonah Energy's leadership and congratulate Jonah for being the first US company to join the OGMP 2.0 reporting framework," said Manfredi Caltagirone, interim head of UNEP's International Methane Emissions Observatory. "The framework is the highest standard of methane reporting in the oil and gas industry and has a performance element that focuses on reduction approaches, technology advancement and policy development, aiding the oil and gas industry in achieving deep, transparent reductions in mineral methane emissions."
