Global methane abatement measures across major gas exporters and importers could unlock, in the longer term, natural gas volumes that would be double the current supply trapped by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Monday.
Methane emissions from the energy sector plateaued at near record highs in 2025, the IEA said in its Global Methane Tracker 2026 report out today.
But tackling methane emissions and implementing readily accessible methane abatement measures across global gas systems could help countries improve their gas supply security. The methane tackling in the short term could make nearly 15 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas very quickly available to markets, the IEA reckons.
Over the longer term, efforts to cut methane from oil and gas operations globally could deliver nearly 100 bcm of gas to markets each year, while eliminating non-emergency gas flaring could unlock a further 100 bcm, according to estimates by the international agency.
“Such savings would be double the supply volumes cut off due to the effective closure of the Strait,” the IEA said in its report.
The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz has removed almost 20% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply from the market, effectively cutting off exports from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Separately, Qatar’s LNG capacity has been severely damaged by Iranian missile attacks, which forced state firm QatarEnergy to declare force majeure on contracts and start quantifying the losses.
Qatar’s LNG will not be returning online for months, and full capacity would probably take up to five years to resume.
As a result, the global gas market is looking very tight this year and next, contrary to expectations from just three months ago, when analysts and the IEA itself were expecting oversupply through the end of the decade with a new wave of export capacity coming on stream.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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