Collaborative Levers for Methane Abatement in National Oil Companies

In the race to reduce global methane emissions, national oil companies (NOCs) are a wild card.

Holders of two-thirds of global oil and gas reserves, NOCs have largely fallen behind their peers in reducing operational methane emissions. Many lack access to affordable capital to finance methane abatement, and many more face declining access to government credit and demand for ever-higher revenues to finance state expenditures. Financial support from commercial banks, investors, and sovereign creditors is therefore critical to fund NOC efforts to reduce methane emissions.

To be successful, methane abatement efforts must be driven not just by financial and economic motivations, but political motivations as well. As state-owned companies — where politicians and not market investors hold final decision-making power — managing methane within NOCs necessitates buy-in from a range of diverse political actors across ministries, regulatory agencies, oversight bodies, and, ultimately, political leaders and their constituencies.