Emission controls are an urgent matter
US oil sector champions methane controls
Biden administration hopes to fast-track emission restrictions, a popular measure among many large-cap operators
The US oil patch is getting behind a Democrat effort to reimpose regulations on methane emissions. Operators including ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Total, US independent Occidental Petroleum and Norway’s Equinor all back reinstating limits. Former president Donald Trump revoked regulations last year, despite disapproval among many major operators. But after a year of poor revenue returns, companies waking up to ESG investor concerns and a new president pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by up to 52pc by 2030, emission controls are again an urgent matter. The shale patch hopes natural gas will serve as an important bridging fuel for the energy transition—especially given forecasts
Also in this section
17 July 2025
Oil and gas companies will face penalties if they fail to reach the EU’s binding CO₂ injection targets for 2030, but they could also risk building underused and unprofitable CCS infrastructure
9 July 2025
Latin American country plans a cap-and-trade system and supports the scale-up of CCS as it prepares to host COP30
3 July 2025
European Commission introduces new flexibilities for member states to ease compliance with headline goal
1 July 2025
Supportive government policy, deforestation threat and economic opportunity drive forward the region’s monetisation of forest carbon
