New Year, Renewed Resolve: The Economic And Environmental Opportunities From Reducing Flaring And Methane

Dear Clients, Partners, Collaborators, Investors and friends

My colleagues and I at Capterio wish you and your loved ones a Happy New Year!

Positive vibes in a challenged world

It’s easy to be disheartened by an increasingly stressed world and the slow progress on climate matters. But let’s also celebrate some positive strides in the energy sector.

2023 saw record renewable capacity additions (c. 500 GW, dominated by solar), EVs reaching around 17% global market share, and green hydrogen capacity reaching a record 1.1 GW. Of course, there is also no net-zero without a dramatic reduction in the consumption of fossil fuels.

But while this progress is crucial, we mustn’t neglect necessary routine improvements in the current system in favour of new, more exciting technologies. The best fuel is the fuel you don’t use – so driving efficiency and fixing waste (which is 7% of all consumed gas) should be our top short-term priority.  We delve into this in our conversation with the top-ranked “Energy Gang” podcast at COP28.

As long as oil and gas production persists, it’s critical to decarbonise and invest in the supply chain, particularly in reducing waste from flaring and methane emissions.  We mustn’t overlook (or underfund) the current system in favour of the novel.  

Looking ahead to 2024, there’s reason for optimism in the flaring and methane space. COP28 made unexpected strides, including two major flaring/methane announcements. The EU introduced a new methane performance standard, and there are groundbreaking methane regs both in the USA and Nigeria.  The global flaring figures are starting to move, too.

Capterio’s Impact Model in 1-2-3

We at Capterio focus on flaring and methane not only because it’s a quick win that can have a material impact (up to 6.7 gigatonnes worth per year, see below), but it is essential to deliver net zero (also according to the IEA).  

Our mission at Capterio is to drive impact and accelerate change, together with our clients and partners. Since 2021, we’ve helped our client in reducing emissions equivalent to removing 2.5 million cars from the roads. Our work focusses on three areas:

(1) Capterio’s analytics drives efficiency and operational improvement through real-time flare tracking

Our proprietary tool (“FlareIntel Pro“) tracks flaring for every company in every country worldwide on a daily basis.  

FlareIntel Pro (a) improves visibility of flaring (especially for non-operated assets), (b) identifies operational and efficiency improvements, and (3) prioritises investment opportunities. It’s been rewarding to collaborate with many new leaders in companies committed to “zero routine flaring” and witness a considerable surge of interest since the new commitments made at COP28.

(2) Capterio’s business models identify and accelerate on-the-ground project-based impact 

Our analytics combines with technical and commercial expertise to identify, prioritise and progress real on-the-ground projects that capture gas, reduce emissions, create value, improve energy security and accelerate the energy transition. 

Many countries now see flaring as a positive opportunity that supports their domestic security and economic ambitions.  Flare capture investments (with their negative marginal abatement costs) are some of our planet’s best possible decarbonisation investments on a dollar spent per tonne abated metric.

There also are huge accessible opportunities in Iraq, Algeria, US, Mexico, Libya, Turkmenistan, Nigeria, Egypt, Mexico and more.  As budgets finalise, it is important to note that selective investment is key to upgrading facilities and infrastructure. 

(3) Capterio is driving the global flaring conversation

We also continue to have broad engagement beyond IOCs, NOCs and Independents, including financing bodies, governments, regulators, industry bodies, service companies, insurers and more.  Recent examples of Capterio’s global impact include:

• Our article on the progress made at COP28: “Making the Oil and Gas Industry’s Major COP28 Announcements Truly Impactful”.
  
• A collaborative paper with the Atlantic Council, “Why COP28 is right to prioritize global methane and flaring reduction”, which we also discussed at OPEC.
  
• Our Op-Ed in Reuters on the EU methane performance standard (“Europe’s ban on dirty methane imports will be good for oil and gas producers as well as the planet”).
  
• But it’s not all about strategic analytics and selective investment.  Our piece at Cambridge’s sustainability conference (“Leadership with laughter: why it matters in business”) showed that people and fun arguably matter more.

Driving successes in 2024 together

Capterio’s programme will continue to accelerate in 2024.  We thank you and all our clients, collaborators, investors, finance partners and academic partners for your support.

To find out how you can work with Capterio to reduce flaring, create value and accelerate the energy transition, please get in touch with us at ceo@capterio.com or visit www.capterio.com. 

We are excited to hear from you.

Mark

Dr Mark Davis, Capterio CEO

[Image credit: Dall-E]