Howdy, yall!  An important message that came out of COP29 was that reducing methane emissions is our “emergency brake” for dealing with the climate crisis. There is also consensus that reducing methane emissions from oil and gas specifically is the “low-hanging fruit” of the climate fight. In an interview at COP29, Durwood Zaelke, President of the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development stated:

“We’ve got to slam on the brakes fast and methane is now, along with the other super pollutants, is the only way we know how to do that.”

We need to do everything we can to pull that emergency brake.

Miguel viewing emissions from a boat off the shore of the Cameron LNG export facility in Louisiana. The ship in the background was loaded with LNG that was exported to China where it arrived 45 days after leaving Louisiana.

Our Work in the Media

Sharon got up very early to take part in We Don’t Have Time’s broadcast from COP. You can watch the full video here or some highlights of Sharon’s comments below, along with Tomás de Oliveira Bredariol, Energy Analyst for the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreeing that most methane releases from oil and gas are intentional.

NHK (Japanese public television) broadcast its documentary on U.S. LNG exports which features Oilfield Witness and our optical gas imaging work. NHK joined Sharon and Miguel in the Permian in October.

Justin was on the Gravity Well podcast discussing, “How Do We Address North America’s Oil and Gas Liabilities?”

Our writing

Sharon wrote about how “Unintentional leaks of methane are the side show. Intentional releases, required by design, are the problem.”

Justin wrote about the lack of progress on reducing oil and gas methane emissions and how the industry (with help from politicians and the media) continue to mislead the public by claiming LNG is clean energy.

Fieldwork

Sharon took journalists from France Télévisions to West Texas. While the background of this photo might make you think they were there to do a story on the growing wind power in Texas, they were setting up to look at unlit oil well flares.

Video

James Hiatt of “For a Better Bayou” is a local resident and community environmental advocate in Southwest Louisiana. In this video he and Sharon describe the climate, environmental and health dangers of the Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility (CP1) operated by the company Venture Global.

Miguel shared our report on oilfield air pollution with TikTok. In this video, Miguel summarizes the top findings from our recent report “Unmonitored and Unregulated.” Full report can be found here.

Follow us on Bluesky for daily updates on methane news.

@oilfieldwitness.bsky.social