NSTA fines Neo Energy for North Sea methane venting

Market: Emissions, Natural gas
18/04/24

UK offshore regulator the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) has fined UK upstream firm Neo Energy £100,000 for breaching its methane venting permit at North Sea fields.

The company emitted 1,200t of methane in excess of its permit from the Donan, Lochranza and Balloch fields in the first nine months of 2022. Neo had permission to vent 378t of methane from installations at these fields in that year, but incorrectly assigned volumes vented through unlit flares to its flaring consent, the NSTA found.

Neo showed a "lack of oversight" by failing to detect the licence breach for seven months, NSTA said. The company reached its annual limit by 21 March 2022, but continued venting without authorisation until October 2022.

The company said it did not update its flare and vent allocation process to reflect NSTA guidance updated in 2021, and as such was still assigning its flaring and venting according to previous guidance.

Neo becomes the fourth company to be fined by the NSTA over breaches relating to flaring and venting consents. The regulator in 2022 sanctioned Equinor and EnQuest and last year fined Spanish utility Repsol for consent breaches. The four companies have been fined a total of £475,000 for the breaches. And the regulator in February had four more investigations under way for breaches of vent consents.

Neo Energy's fine is equivalent to £2.98/t of CO2e emitted, assuming a global warming potential of methane that is 28 times that of CO2 on a 100-year time scale, compared with a UK emissions trading system price of £34.40/t of CO2e on 17 April.

The UK offshore industry targets a 50pc reduction in production emissions of greenhouse gases by 2030, from a 2018 baseline. And it intends to end all routine venting and flaring by that year. The regulator last year warned that "further, sustained action" would be needed to reach the 2030 emissions reduction goal. Methane emissions from offshore gas fell in recent years, to 1mn t in 2022 from 1.6mn t in 2018, according to NSTA data. Roughly half of methane emissions in the sector in recent years has been produced by venting, while flaring makes up about a quarter of the emissions.

The UK government is a member of the Global Methane Pledge group of countries that aims to reduce methane emissions by 30pc by 2030 from a 2020 baseline.

By Rhys Talbot

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22/11/24

Cop: Singapore, Peru finalise carbon credit negotiation

Baku, 22 November (Argus) — Singapore and Peru have concluded negotiations on an implementation agreement for carbon credit co-operation aligned with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, at the UN Cop 29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. The countries "substantively concluded negotiations" on 21 November, said Singapore's ministry of trade and industry. The collaboration is aimed at unlocking additional mitigation activities and scaling solutions to advance both countries' climate ambitions. Under the implementation agreement, a framework for the generation and international transfer of Article 6-compliant carbon credits will be established. The framework will include criteria and procedures for transfer between both countries. Negotiators in Baku appear close to a final agreement on Article 6 , which aims to help set rules on global carbon trade. Article 6.2 already allows countries' governments to form bilateral agreements for carbon mitigation projects, the outcomes of which can be traded to contribute towards climate pledges. Mitigation refers to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming. "When the agreement is signed, we look forward to the private sector utilising this agreement to develop carbon credits projects to actualise concrete environmental outcomes," said Singapore's minister for sustainability and environment Grace Fu. The minister is also one of the facilitators, alongside New Zealand, for negotiations on Article 6. Singapore also signed an implementation agreement with Zambia on 19 November at the summit. It has multiple carbon credit deals with other countries, but has only signed implementation agreements with Zambia, Ghana and Papua New Guinea so far. Singapore's National Climate Change Secretariat and the world's largest independent carbon credit registries Verra and Gold Standard last week released initial recommendations outlining the development of a carbon crediting protocol to implement Article 6.2. The recommendations are aimed at helping countries to use Article 6 to achieve their UN climate pledges and sustainable development goals, and provides recommendations on how governments can facilitate an effective Article 6.2 market. If such a framework is not established, "countries could take divergent approaches, which could hinder the implementation, scaling and integrity of co-operation under Article 6.2," said Verra. The protocol will be further developed and published once Cop 29 is concluded, said Verra. It will incorporate decisions from Cop 29 and will be implemented in 2025. By Prethika Nair Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Brazil congress approves carbon market legislation

21/11/24

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21/11/24

Brazil congress approves carbon market legislation

Sao Paulo, 21 November (Argus) — Brazil's lower house approved the creation of a regulated carbon market, which is seen as an essential tool for the country to meet its emissions reduction targets. The senate approved the bill earlier this month . It now awaits the president's signature to become law. The legislation, which has been the subject of legislative debates for more than three years, creates the Brazilian emissions trading system (SBCE) and stipulates that companies with emissions greater than 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e)/yr will be subject to the cap-and-trade system. Companies with emissions from 10,000-25,000 tCO2e/yr will need to report their emissions but will not be required to offset them. The market will help Brazil reach its new nationally determined contribution (NDC), according to vice president Geraldo Alckmin. The new NDC , released earlier this month, stipulates that Brazil will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 67pc from 2005 levels by 2035. Roughly 5,000 companies will be subject to the cap-and-trade system, covering about 15pc of Brazil's emissions, according to finance ministry estimates. The new market will go into effect over a six-year period in five phases. The first phase involves defining the rules that will govern the market, which can take up to two years. In the second phase, companies will be required to measure their emissions, and in the third phase report emissions and present a plan to monitor and reduce them. In the fourth phase, the trading market will begin operating and the first carbon allocation plan will go into effect. In the fifth and final phase, the market will be fully operational. As expected, the agriculture sector was excluded from the regulated market and will not have emissions-reductions targets. The law also exempts waste treatment companies, including sewage treatment and landfill operators if they can demonstrate the use of technologies that neutralize greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation also addresses regulations for the voluntary market, helping finance decarbonization projects in the agriculture and forestry sectors. Brazil has the potential to generate up to $100bn in revenues from the carbon market by 2030, according to a study by think tank ICC Brasil. Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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Cost of government support for fossil fuels still high

21/11/24

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21/11/24

Cost of government support for fossil fuels still high

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Investment funds’ net long on Ice TTF reaches new high

21/11/24

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21/11/24

Investment funds’ net long on Ice TTF reaches new high

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Cop: Talks in Baku torn between mitigation and finance

21/11/24

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21/11/24

Cop: Talks in Baku torn between mitigation and finance

Edinburgh, 21 November (Argus) — Developing and developed nations remain at loggerheads on what progress on climate finance and mitigation — actions to cut greenhouse gas emissions — should look like at the UN Cop 29 climate summit. But Cop 30 host Brazil has reminded parties that they need to stick to the brief, which is finance for developing countries. Concluding a plenary where parties, developed and developing, listed grievances, environment minister Marina Silva recognised "the excellent progress achieved" on mitigation at Cop 28. She listed paragraphs of the Cop 28 deal, including the energy package and its historic call to transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems. "We are on the right track," she said, talking about mitigation, but "our greatest obligation at this moment is to make progress with regard to financing". "This is the core of financing that will pave our collective path in ambition and implementation at Cop 30," Silva said, adding that $1.3 trillion for developing countries should be "the guiding star of this Cop". Parties are negotiating a new collective quantified goal (NCQG) — a new climate finance target — building on the $100bn/yr that developed countries agreed to deliver to developing countries over 2020-25. But developed countries insist that a precise number for a goal can only be produced if there is progress on mitigation and financing structure for the NCQG. "Otherwise you have a shopping basket but you don't know what's in there," EU energy commissioner Wopke Hoekstra said. Some developing nations said they need the "headline number first". Some developing countries, including Latin American and African nations as well as island states, have also complained about the lack of mitigation ambition. Cop is facing one of the "weakest mitigation texts we have ever seen," Panama said. But they also indicated that financial support was missing to implement action. Developed countries at Cop 29 seek the implementation of the energy pledges made last year. "What we had on our agenda was not just to restate the [Cop 28] consensus but actually to enhance and to operationalise that," but the text goes in the opposite direction, Hoekstra said, talking about the latest draft on finance. Whether hints that Brazil has mitigation in focus for next year's summit will be enough to assuage concerns from developed countries at Cop 29 on fossil fuel ambitions remains to be seen. The communique of the G20, which the country hosted, does not explicitly mention the goal to transition away from fossil fuels either. The developed countries' mitigation stance grew firmer after talks on a work programme dedicated to mitigation, the obvious channel for fossil fuel language, was rescued from the brink of collapse last week. Discussions have stalled, but another text — the UAE dialogue which is meant to track progress on the outcomes of Cop 28 — still has options referring to fossil fuels. But in these negotiations too, divisions remain. "The UAE dialogue contains some positive optional language on deep, rapid and sustained emissions reductions and the [Cop 28] energy package, E3G said. But Saudi Arabia has made clear that this was unacceptable, while India, which worked to water down a coal deal at Cop 26, is pushing back on the 1.5°C temperature limit of the Paris Agreement. Negotiators are starting to run out of time. Draft after draft, the divide fails to be breached with no agreement on an amount for the finance deal. "We cannot talk about a lower or higher number because there is no number," noted Colombia's environment minister Susana Muhamad. The next iteration should have numbers based on the Cop 29 presidency's "view of possible landing zones". The fact that the draft text on finance has no bridging proposal is a concern, non-profit WRI director of international climate action David Waskow said. Finance was always meant to be the centrepiece of Cop 29. Parties have not formally discussed the goal in more than 15 years, and have been trying to prepare for a new deal through technical meetings for the past two years. But the discussion needs to end in Baku. By Caroline Varin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.

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