Oil major BP and non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) have announced a three-year strategic commitment to advance technologies and practices to reduce methane emissions from the global oil and gas supply chain.

The initiative should have potential for broad application across the oil and gas industry and could help make gas a viable interim energy source as Fred Krupp, EDF president, explains: “The scale of the methane challenge is enormous, but so is the opportunity. Whether natural gas can play a constructive role in the energy transition depends on aggressive measures to reduce emissions that include methane."

Krupp sees the agreement as a way to engage with commerce even if it is not yet fully aligned, rather than dismissing BP as an irredeemable entity, "EDF and BP don't agree on everything, but we're finding common ground on methane. BP has shown early ambition to lead on methane technology. We hope to see more as BP delivers on its own stringent methane goal and we work together to spread solutions industrywide."

EDF will not receive any funding from BP, consistent with EDF's strict policy prohibiting receipt of funds from energy companies and corporate collaborators. Rather, BP and EDF are working to identify third-party analytical and technological demonstration projects, and BP will assist with funding.

The collaboration will investigate using both advances in physical technology and digital technologies to help monitor and control emissions. The research will also centre on projects aimed at increasing the understanding of joint ventures, identifying best practices and potential opportunities for reducing methane emissions in non-operated assets.

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