Spotlight: Financing Oil & Gas Methane Abatement in Southeast Asia

The document highlights a critical lack of tracked financing for oil and gas methane abatement in Southeast Asia, despite the sector being the region's second-largest methane contributor. It identifies key barriers such as limited technical capacity, data gaps, and underdeveloped regulations. The brief argues that methane abatement offers a low-cost, quick-win opportunity for near-term climate mitigation and suggests that state-owned enterprises and international financial institutions play pivotal roles in scaling these efforts.

• The energy sector in Southeast Asia emitted 275 million metric tonnes of methane (CO2e) in 2020, and emissions could quadruple by 2050 if business-as-usual continues.
• There was no tracked financing specifically targeting methane abatement in the oil and gas sector in Southeast Asia for the periods 2019/2020 and 2021/2022.
• Methane abatement in the oil and gas sector is hindered by several systemic barriers: limited operator capacity and data on emission inventories, a lack of infrastructure for captured gas transportation, underdeveloped regulatory frameworks, and a lack of clear definitions for transition finance.
• While all ASEAN Member States have included methane abatement in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), specific strategies for the oil and gas sector are generally missing, with most policies focusing on waste or agriculture.
• State-owned enterprises in the region can lead abatement efforts; for example, Malaysia's PETRONAS has set a target to reduce methane emissions by 50% by 2025.
• Implementing upstream leak detection and repair (LDAR) in Malaysia alone could reduce methane emissions by up to 1,413 ktCO2e annually.
• Public international finance for methane abatement in Southeast Asia has been limited to other sectors, such as USD 97 million per year for water and wastewater from the Export-Import Bank of Korea and USD 18 million per year for AFOLU from the Asian Development Bank during 2021/2022.

APA

Alberti, C., & Naran, B. (2023). Spotlight: Financing Oil & Gas Methane Abatement in Southeast Asia. Climate Policy Initiative. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Spotlight-Financing-Oil-Gas-Methane-Abatement-in-Southeast-Asia.pdf

Chicago

Alberti, Caroline, and Baysa Naran. Spotlight: Financing Oil & Gas Methane Abatement in Southeast Asia. Climate Policy Initiative, 2023. https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Spotlight-Financing-Oil-Gas-Methane-Abatement-in-Southeast-Asia.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Alberti |first1=Caroline |last2=Naran |first2=Baysa |title=Spotlight: Financing Oil & Gas Methane Abatement in Southeast Asia |publisher=Climate Policy Initiative |date=November 2023 |url=https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Spotlight-Financing-Oil-Gas-Methane-Abatement-in-Southeast-Asia.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{alberti2023spotlight, author = {Alberti, Caroline and Naran, Baysa}, title = {{Spotlight: Financing Oil \& Gas Methane Abatement in Southeast Asia}}, institution = {Climate Policy Initiative}, year = {2023}, month = nov, url = {https://www.climatepolicyinitiative.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Spotlight-Financing-Oil-Gas-Methane-Abatement-in-Southeast-Asia.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }