Algeria’s Energy Minister Abdelmadjid Attar cites progress in reducing methane leaks and flaring (MEES, 4 December). But Algeria still has a long way to go in getting its greenhouse gas emissions under control. EU countries are Algeria’s core market for gas exports. And they are increasingly looking at the wellhead-to-burner tip emissions footprint of such supplies. For Algeria they’re unlikely to be impressed.

A report released this week by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies puts the methane intensity of Algeria’s oil and gas production at 56 kg CO2-eq/boe for 2019, placing it only behind war-torn Libya among countries that supply significant volumes of natural gas to the EU. The next highest emitter is Russia at 34 kg CO2-eq/boe, followed by US at 21 kg CO2-eq/boe. Though these figures exclude transportation, a big caveat for the US and other LNG suppliers, they do not present Algeria in a favorable light. (CONTINUED - 396 WORDS)