Upstream Producers Face Pressure Over Methane Emissions

The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s (OGCI), has launched a wave of action in a bid to promote sustainable climate action among upstream companies to significantly improve methane emissions reduction targets.

Current annual Progress Report published by the group shows the 12 member companies met the voluntary collective 2025 upstream carbon intensity ambition and held upstream methane intensity well below 0.20 per cent for a fifth consecutive year, providing a strong foundation for the group’s next phase of action through 2030. 

The OGCI is a CEO-led initiative comprised of 12 of the world’s leading oil and gas companies, producing around a quarter of global oil and gas on an operated basis. 

According to Bjørn Otto Sverdrup, Chair of OGCI’s Executive Committee, “With current geopolitical uncertainty testing energy security, affordability and the pace of the transition, OGCI’s members remain individually committed to delivering measurable emissions reductions from their operated oil and gas while continuing to supply the energy the world demands.” 

“As our annual progress report details, OGCI’s member companies worked individually to achieve the collective upstream carbon intensity ambition, and maintained methane intensity well below our 0.20 per cent ambition for the fifth consecutive year, even as production grew in the period. These results give OGCI a strong platform to build on as we sharpen our focus on delivering further progress through 2030.”

The report indicates that OGCI members overall decreased aggregate upstream operated carbon intensity to 16.5 kg CO₂e/boe in 2025, meeting the group’s voluntary ambition to be at or below 17.0 kilograms of CO₂ equivalent per barrel of oil equivalent in 2025. 

Aggregate upstream methane intensity was 0.13 per cent in 2025 the group’s fifth consecutive year below the 0.20 per cent ambition. 

Over the same period, aggregate upstream routine flaring fell 74 per cent compared with the 2018 baseline, which included 10 companies, with three member companies reporting zero routine flaring in 2025.

These results were achieved as oil and gas production operated by member companies grew 3 per cent year-on-year to 43.4 million barrels of oil equivalent a day. 

In 2025, OGCI members’ total aggregate upstream operated methane emissions were 0.76 million metric tonnes (Mt). This is 1.2 Mt less methane than was emitted in 2017. Total upstream operated Scope 1 GHG emissions were 260 Mt in 2025 – a decrease of 28 per cent compared with 2017.

A combination of methane abatement, flaring reduction, electrification, energy efficiency improvements and the deployment of proven technologies supported progress toward the ambitions. 

At the same time, member companies continued to individually expand methane measurement and detection programs, including drone and aerial monitoring, continuous monitoring systems and real-time analytics, helping operators identify the sources of methane emissions faster and target corrective action more effectively.

Bob Dudley, Chair of OGCI said, “The world demands more energy with lower emissions, and that energy must remain secure and affordable. Our members are demonstrating that it’s possible to meet that demand while reducing upstream emissions intensity at scale.” 

“Our focus now is to keep improving our aggregate performance while accelerating progress across the industry. Through the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter, we are working with a broader group to individually aim to reduce upstream methane emissions and individually end routine flaring by 2030.”

According to a statement issued in March 2026, the OGCI CEOs said their companies remain individually committed to GHG emissions intensity reductions, supporting new technologies and innovations, and accelerating the scale up of low-carbon solutions. 

“Looking to 2030, we will continue to report on emissions and strive to improve individual methane performance and measurement. On methane intensity, we are collectively well below 0.20% today and aiming for 0.1% collectively,” the statement said.

The OGCI serves as Secretariat to the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC), which now comprises 56 signatories producing around 40 per cent of the world’s oil. In 2025, OGDC adopted OGCI’s Reporting Framework strengthening consistency and comparability of emissions reporting across signatories.

During 2025 and 2026, OGCI supported operators in Bahrain, Colombia, Libya, Nigeria and Pakistan to detect, monitor and abate upstream methane emissions through its Satellite Monitoring Campaign its and announced a collaboration with Carbon Mapper to combine publicly available satellite methane data with OGCI’s peer-to-peer engagement model.

In 2025, member companies invested overall a total of $28 billion in low-carbon solutions, acquisitions and R&D, taking cumulative investment since 2017 to $156 billion. 

The OGCI members are individually advancing in aggregate more than 50 major CCUS hubs and direct air capture projects including Northern Lights, Liverpool Bay CCS, and Ravenna CCS in Europe, STRATOS in the US, Jubail in Saudi Arabia and Junggar in China