US to help Turkmenistan to curb colossal 'methane leak' ahead of the COP28 summit

The United States is negotiating a deal with Turkmenistan to help the country curb the colossal methane leak. In 2022, the Central Asian nation was responsible for a whopping 184 super-emitter events in which powerful greenhouse gas was released from the region. The release was the highest number in the world and caused pollution equivalent to the rate of emissions caused by  67 million cars. Through this deal, the US officials sought to prevent some leaks from Turkmenistan’s oil and gas industry. The motive is to halt the colossal leak by the start of the UN’s Cop28 climate summit, which is scheduled in late November this year. 

On Monday, US special envoy for climate, John Kerry spoke with the President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov to address the issue. In April this year, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Turkmenistan Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov in Washington. During their meeting in April, the two leaders discussed the “critical importance of reducing methane emissions to combat the climate crisis and outlining opportunities to work with Turkmenistan”. According to The Guardian, the agreement could see the United States providing financial support and expertise to the Central Asian Nation, to deal with the issue. 

“The United States and Turkmenistan stated their intentions to cooperate on deploying leak detection and repair solutions as well as develop a methane reduction investment plan in 2023 to control methane emissions in the oil and gas sector,” the two countries stated in a joint statement at US-Turkmenistan Annual Bilateral consultations. The meetings are coming in the midst of the revelations made by the News Satellite data. The data is increasing putting the spotlight on nations with major methane leaks. The list includes US and Russia. 

Turkmenistan assures systematic work in this endeavour

After the Kerry-Berdimuhamedov meeting, the Turkmenistan foreign ministry recorded the “exchange of views”. “Systematic work is being carried out in our country … focused on the consistent introduction of advanced environmentally friendly resource-saving technologies in the oil and gas, energy, transport and other industries,” the ministry stated in a statement, The Guardian reported. The country’s methane leak is attracting attention since satellite data shows little change in Turkmenistan’s methane emissions from 2019-2022. 

Last month it reported that the methane emission from the country’s two main fossil fields caused more global heating in 2022 than the entire carbon emission in the United Kingdom. Experts called these data, “Mind-boggling” and “infuriating”. According to The Guardian, in March this year, the country became the worst country in the world when it comes to methane emissions. Experts say that the leaks are believed to come from ageing and poorly maintained oil and gas pipelines. Not addressing this issue has led to the worsening of the situation. “Pumping gas out of the ground and immediately releasing it into the air is about as clever as driving a car over a cliff,” said Prof Euan Nisbet of Royal Holloway, University of London. “Kerry will deserve much credit if the US can help Turkmenistan rapidly cut its methane emissions,” he added.