Gazprom touts green credentials

Russia's Gazprom estimates that its natural gas supplies to Europe have a significantly smaller carbon footprint than competing LNG shipments, the company said in a presentation on May 18.

Gazprom's gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream and TurkStream pipelines have a carbon footprint of only 6.3 and 7.8 grams of CO₂ equivalent/MJ of energy, the company said. The estimates cover the production, treatment and pipeline transport of the gas.

Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. ngc.co.tt

LNG supplies from Qatar, meanwhile, have a carbon footprint of 14.2 grams of CO₂ equivalent/MJ, because of the extra emissions from liquefaction, transport of the gas via sea and regasification, Gazprom said. For the same reason, Algeria's gas has a carbon footprint of 17.4 grams of CO₂ equivalent/MJ and the US, 23.8 grams.

Gazprom has also pointed out in the past that its measured and verified methane emissions are among the lowest in the gas industry – only 0.02% in production, 0.29% in transport and 0.03% in underground storage. The European Commission (EC) is currently drawing up legislation on reducing energy sector emissions that may cover imported gas from Russia and other suppliers. A public consultation on the measures ended on May 1.

The EC wants to propose compulsory measurement, reporting and verification (MRV) at a company level for all energy-related methane emissions, while obliging companies to improve leak detection and repair (LDAR) at infrastructure and take steps to eliminate routine venting of methane and flaring.

In its response to the consultation, Gazprom said it called for level four and five standards under the voluntary Oil and Gas Methane Partnership (OGMP) to be required across the energy supply chain. The legislation should also be extended to other methane-emitting sectors like livestock and crop production, where it said measures had not been as effective as in the oil and gas sector.

"An objective system of verification and control is needed that ensures equal treatment of all gas suppliers in a transparent manner," the company said. "Its sole goal must be to objectively measure and then reduce emissions," it added.

Gazprom cautioned that "in developing an evidence-based and objective approach to methane emissions, it will be important to avoid measures that may lead to artificial market distortions with respect to natural gas as an energy source."

"Imposing quotas or charges on methane emissions that are not supported by objective data can lead to an unjustified increase in the price of gas and an unjustified restriction on the development of low-carbon hydrogen from natural gas, the role of which is noted in the EU Hydrogen Strategy," it said. "This effect would run contrary to the EU's Green Deal objectives and make it harder to achieve them."