06 Sep 2019 Trump reverses methane emission limits, resulting in GHG increase in the USA

Posted at 14:59h in Oil and Gas by

Controversial news coming from the White House: Trump administration has taken another step back for US environmental regulations.

Indeed, it proposed to remove the limits and rules for companies which are required to prevent methane leaks during drilling operations for oil and gas.

The issue with methane emission is especially related with the risks coming from leaks and gas waste, which qualify methane as one of the main greenhouse gases negatively affecting the environment and contributing to climate change.

 What is particularly interesting is that protests have come also from huge oil companies, which are now facing and trying to match investors’ pressures to meet stronger environmental standards. 

BP, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch are some examples, indeed, BP declared it
will continue to advocate for direct regulation of methane and ExxonMobil states to believe in policies and regulations aimed at reducing emissions. 

Also some States will continue to regulate, but the issue is that some others will not and that the national regulations and requirements are not enough to address the methane problem in an effective way. 

This is not the first time Trump takes action to reverse policies coming from the Obama mandate and concerning environmental issues. His declarations on climate change and the plan to pull the US out of Paris Agreement leave no doubt on his view, but certainly raise concerns on the position of the environmental issue among Trump administration priorities. 

How will this affect oil companies and investors? How will national governments behave with respect to the new directives? And finally, how will this impact methane emissions’ damages on the environment? 

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