Turkmenistan has started plugging the mega-leaks of methane that spew from its ageing oil and gas facilities, the latest UN data shows, in a move hailed as a breakthrough. Methane, also called natural or fossil gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. It traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide and causes 25% of global heating today.
Stopping leaks can be quick and cheap and, because methane breaks down in the atmosphere far quicker than CO2, this has a rapid impact, with some experts calling it the climate “emergency brake”. The Guardian revealed in 2023 that Turkmenistan was the worst country for methane mega-leaks. Sources in Turkmenistan said this scrutiny was the “critical step” in leading the secretive and authoritarian government to engage with foreign partners.
A “super-emitter” leak, the escape of tonnes of methane per hour from a single valve or pipeline, heats the planet more than the emissions from a million SUVs or an entire coal-fired power station. Turkmenistan had now stopped eight leaks by repairing corroded pipes, faulty wells and failing flares. The work was an “incredible first step”, said the UN, but much remained to be done.
The UN Methane Alert and Response System (Mars) sent 192 alerts of methane plumes to Turkmenistan in the last year. The country had three of the six worst leaks detected in the world by Mars in last six months, and nine of the top 50. Turkmenistan responded to about 20% of the alerts with on-the-ground information about the leaks and potential plans to fix them.
In contrast, the US was sent the second highest number of alerts – 138 – but responded to none and had fixed no leaks in the last year. Other nations that failed to respond to any alerts were Iran, Russia and China. The worst methane leak detected was an extraordinary leak in Mexico’s offshore oil and gas industry of 37 tonnes per hour, equivalent to the emissions of more than 7m SUVs.
Mexico responded to all 23 Mars alerts in the last year, but had yet to complete a fix. The plugging of leaks in Turkmenistan was encouraging, said Meghan Demeter, the programme manager of Mars, which is part of the UN Environment Programme. We’re seeing that the pipeline of satellite data to mitigation action works, and it can work quite quickly.” “This is a breakthrough in terms of having real documented mitigation action,” she told the Guardian.
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