Proposal on the potential way industry can contribute to the reduction of methane emissions (Madrid Forum) – Joint GIE-MARCOGAZ Workshop on 17 January 2019

January 28, 2019

On the 17th January, GIE and MARCOGAZ organized a workshop on the “Proposal on the potential way industry can contribute to the reduction of methane emissions (Madrid Forum) ”

During the last European Gas Regulatory Forum, The European Commission has given the opportunity to the industry to contribute to methane emissions reduction policy for the gas sector.

GIE and MARCOGAZ were invited to gather all stakeholders across the entire gas chain and to lead the development of a proposal on the potential way the gas industry can contribute to the reduction of methane emissions.

During the workshop, almost 50 participants representing 37 organizations covering the entire gas chain, from production to utilization, were actively attending.

In his introduction speech, GIE Board member, Francisco de la Flor said, “Gas industry committed to contribute to a cleaner environment and further reduction of the methane emissions along the natural gas chain by implementing the best available techniques while also improving transparency on emissions data and harmonizing and standardizing the measurement methods” .

Jos Dehaeseleer, Secretary General of MARCOGAZ added “ for the gas industry, preventing and repairing leaks has always been very high on the priority list, mainly for safety reasons. But this is now , and will even be more in the future , also focused on the environmental aspects as emissions. As far as technology enables it in an affordable way, this affects each element of the entire gas chain from its design, commissioning, use , operation till its decommissioning” .

The workshop addressed the key challenges in the reduction of methane emissions challenges like improving accuracy of collecting methane emissions data, increasing transparency, BAT (best available techniques) and policy and regulations on methane emissions. Industry initiatives were also presented as ground base for further developments and implementations.

In conclusion, representatives from the whole gas chain committed themselves to contribute to the report which will be presented at the next Madrid forum.

Note to editors

Gas Infrastructure Europe (GIE) is an association representing the interests of gas infrastructure operators active in gas transmission, storage and LNG regasification. GIE is a trusted partner of European institutions, regulatory bodies and industry stakeholders. It is based in Brussels, the heart of European policymaking.

GIE currently represents 70 member companies from 26 countries. Its internal structure has three columns corresponding to the three types of infrastructure activities represented: GTE (Gas Transmission Europe), GSE (Gas Storage Europe) and GLE (Gas LNG Europe), all of which fall under the umbrella of GIE. This structure allows member companies to speak with one voice on infrastructure topics as well as to build positions on column-specific issues. To find out more about GIE’s structure and activities, please visit the website at www.gie.eu .