Methane regulation severely lacking, warns expert at ADIPEC
Methane regulation around the world is still significantly lacking, but signs of progress with mitigation are hopeful, industry experts said on the second day of ADIPEC.
(Abu Dhabi) — The majority of methane regulation from around the world is either totally out-dated or simply inadequate, an expert from the World Bank told delegates at ADIPEC on Tuesday.
“What we’ve discovered from looking at methane regulations is that many are either completely out-dated, or just completely inadequate, said Zubin Bamji, Manager of the Energy & Extractives Global Department at the World Bank.
“Many of them don’t even have methane addressed at all,” he said during a panel discussion on methane mitigation on the second day of ADIPEC, one of the world’s largest energy industry gatherings.
“So in order to create a level playing field for all the operators in a jurisdiction you need to have some basic regulatory requirements,” he urged.
Charlotte Wolff-Bye, Chief Sustainability Officer at Malaysia’s state-owned Petronas, said that first of all, “we have to acknowledge that methane emissions exist,” and that includes in the top echelons of a company.
Countries sometimes sign up for pledges on reducing methane emissions but do not always follow up with regulation, she said. “Business works well when we have a clear line of sight of regulation,” she urged.
A more “even” regulatory environment is required, she added, pointing out that we cannot have “super emitters” in one place and then low emitters in another place.
A panel discussion on methane regulation at ADIPEC, in November 2025 (Photo: Sophie Davies/Gas Outlook)
The data is not complete but oil and gas represents about a third or so of global methane emissions, said Bamji, of which around one third is in the emerging world.
Methane emissions are problematic not just because of their climate impact, which cannot be “underestimated,” but also because of the economic waste they cause, and the fact that gas flaring sometimes takes place in countries where the population is lacking basic access to energy.
And mitigating is not expensive, he noted: “A lot of these methane mitigation projects are at a net negative cost.”
Brian Sullivan CEO of Ipieca, a global not-for-profit oil and gas industry association working on environmental and social issues, said that “part of the challenge is that oil and gas demand remains strong.”
In terms of methane mitigation to date, he said that it’s “patchy” but that there are “signs of significant progress across the sector. The challenge now is to scale it up to cover the whole sector.”
He warned that there still exists a gap between “the knowledge of where the leaks are happening and the action required to mitigate.”
Furthermore, satellites cannot solve methane emissions alone, a number of speakers cautioned.
“Satellites cannot resolve everything,” said Julien Perez, Managing Director of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), an international industry-led organization, and the Oil & Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC).
It’s worth investing in new tech like drones, to get more precise information, he said.
For Wolff-Bye, methane is a “potent greenhouse gas” that needs to be addressed “right now” but more site-specific detection equipment is required.
This is a highly adaptive environment, and the technology is changing rapidly, said Bamji. “You have to be nimble.”
(Writing by Sophie Davies)