MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil called for tighter regulation of the greenhouse gas methane and offered up its own in-house rules as a model for companies and lawmakers worldwide, reported Reuters.
The largest US oil company laid out the guidelines it follows - some of which have been rolled back by the Trump administration - at a time when the industry faces growing pressure from investors to reduce its environmental footprint.
The world’s top oil and gas companies are under heavy pressure from investors and climate activists to meet the 2015 Paris climate goal of limiting global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius from pre-industrial levels.
Exxon and US rival Chevron Corp have been far less ambitious with their greenhouse gas reduction targets than their European rivals.
BP Plc in February set one of the oil sector’s most ambitious targets for curbing carbon emissions, including getting emissions from its operations and barrels produced to net zero.
Exxon will hold its annual investor meeting on Thursday and is expected to detail its climate goals.
Exxon started its methane reduction program in 2017 in its shale fields and has been able to reduce emissions by 20%. It has since started rolling out the methane guidelines to the rest of the company, which "demonstrate what’s practicable and achievable," said Chief Executive Darren Woods.
The program includes leak detection and repair, having companies report their total methane emissions and minimizing venting, the release of unburned methane, which is far more environmentally harmful than flaring it.
Exxon’s announcement came early Tuesday during the annual investor day presentation for its chief US rival, Chevron Corp, which has tied compensation to the reduction of methane emissions.
Last year, the rivals rolled out ambitious production plans for the Permian Basin on the same day, setting up a showdown in the top US shale field.
As MRC informed before, in September 2019, ExxonMobil announced plans to spend GBP140 million over the next two years in an additional investment program at its Fife ethylene plant, which has a capacity of more than 800,000 t/y.
We also remind that ExxonMobil Chemical completed the restart of its Fife ethylene plant at Mossmorran, Scotland, in late February 2020. With its 830,000 mt/year of ethylene production capacity, the plant is one of Europe's largest petrochemical cracker sites. It has returned to the market after a shutdown of almost six months due to planned and unplanned works since August.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 2,093,260 tonnes in 2019, up by 6% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. PE shipments rose from both domestic producers and foreign suppliers. The estimated PP consumption in the Russian market was 1,260,400 tonnes in January-December 2019, up by 4% year on year. Supply of almost all grades of propylene polymers increased, except for statistical copolymers of propylene (PP random copolymers).
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3% of the world's oil and about 2% of the world's energy.
MRC