The Russian oil and gas company Lukoil was suspended from a coalition of oil majors working together to reduce their methane emissions after coming under heightened US sanctions.
The Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter was launched at COP28 in Dubai, and includes 55 companies including all of the big US and European producers. That group is on track to cut its operational methane emissions nearly to zero by 2030, and to reach operational net zero for all emissions by 2050, Bjørn Otto Sverdrup, head of the charter’s secretariat, told Semafor. But for state-owned companies in emerging economies, as well as companies in sanctioned countries like Russia, Venezuela, and Iran, “many of them haven’t really started the journey” on methane, he said, leaving a major gap in the fossil fuel industry’s climate efforts. Lukoil was a rare exception, but “sanctions are making it difficult for companies to engage,” Sverdrup said. In the meantime, the US Treasury Department on Friday cleared the way for some potential buyers to negotiate with Lukoil on acquiring its overseas assets.