Oil and gas firms in industry initiative the Oil and Gas Decarbonisation Charter (OGDC) have maintained focus on commitments and co-operation "against a backdrop of geopolitical unpredictability, disrupted energy markets and competing operational pressures", Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc chief executive Sultan al-Jaber, Saudi Arabia's state-controlled Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser and TotalEnergies chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said today. But gaps in data and data quality remain a challenge for the initiative.
The three chief executives representing the initiative launched at Cop 28 in 2023 said that the OGDC signatories recognise reducing avoidable emissions in the sector "is an immediate contribution the industry must make while continuing to provide the energy the world demands, improve efficiency, and strengthen resilience".
"Despite regional disruption in the Middle East, OGDC continues to serve as a multilateral platform that unites signatories from the US, Europe, the [Middle East] Gulf region, India, Africa, South America and Asia, to address the energy trilemma [energy security, affordability and sustainability] head on," they said.
But even though the initiative said that transparency among the signatories has improved, it added that important gaps remain and some "continue to provide incomplete or only partially verified data".
In 2025, the total scope 1 and 2 emissions, including upstream and downstream operations, reported by 47 signatories out of 56 then was around 840mn t CO2 equivalent (CO2e). The 47 firms in 2025 represented 88pc of OGDC production. Scope 1 and 2 emissions from operations and indirect energy supply to operations typically account for a smaller share of oil and gas producers' emissions, while scope 3, or end-use, emissions represent an estimated 80-95pc of oil and gas producers' emissions.
The OGDC report showed that around 74pc of a total of above 490mn t CO2e in upstream scope 1 and 2 emissions could be attributed to national oil companies in 2025.
The OGDC's signatories' upstream carbon intensity has been estimated at around 22kg CO2e/bl of oil equivalent (boe) for the same period, according to the report. This is expected to change as data maturity improves, and it is "premature to deduce any trends", it said.
On methane, the report said that the industry has made significant progress in methane leak detection and mitigation technologies, as well as improvements in operational practices, but there are fewer companies reporting on their methane emissions than on scope 1 and 2.
"The aggregate OGDC upstream methane emissions estimate for 2025 is around 3mn t, of which 46pc is derived from third-party data," the OGDC report said. The report showed that OGDC signatories' upstream flaring volumes were around 29bn m³ or around 17pc of global flaring volumes. Around 80pc came from non-OGCI members, it noted. OGCI is another industry initiative and comprises Saudi Aramco, BP, Chevron, China's CNPC, Italy's Eni, Norway's Equinor, ExxonMobil, US firm Occidental, Brazil's Petrobras, Spain's Repsol, Shell and TotalEnergies.
A total of 35 signatories, accounting for 84pc of OGDC operated production, have allocated capital to support their interim goals, and half said their budgets cover their entire plans, the report said.
And 46 signatories, covering 96pc of operated production, have set voluntary interim 2030 Scope 1 and 2 ambitions, while more than 80pc of production is covered by action plans on emissions, methane and routine flaring, it said.
The charter now has 57 signatories as of November, representing around one-third of global oil production. The Eni-Petronas joint-venture Searah joined the initiative earlier this month. Of the signatory companies, around two-thirds are state-owned, while OGDC signatories produced around 58mn b/d of oil equivalent (boe/d) in 2025, according to the report.
