Repsol makes first delivery of carbon-compensated LNG

MADRID: Repsol for the first time has used carbon offset credits to compensate for emissions from liquefied natural gas (LNG) a customer will use to power a ship, the Spanish energy provider said on Friday.

Tradeable offset credits aim to balance the planet-warming effects of emissions by supporting projects such as forestation and renewable energy generation sites elsewhere in the world.

Repsol said it had supplied 430 cubic metres of LNG to a 150-metre long chemical tanker owned by Swedish firm Furetank Rederi at a terminal owned by system operator Enagas in southeastern Spain.

To compensate for the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere as the ship uses the fuel, Repsol said it had bought credits on the voluntary carbon market related to natural climate solutions, which tend to include forestation, land management and wetland conservation.

However, unlike some other operators in the sector, Repsol will not offset its production and transport of the fuel, preferring to work on reducing emissions from its own operations.

Other energy companies taking different approaches include Russia's Gazprom, which used offsets to cover the production and transport of LNG to Europe in a company first this week.

Repsol was an early mover among oil and gas companies responding to growing global calls to combat climate change by pledging to reduce emissions from products they bring out of the ground to net zero - meaning no more than can be soaked up by natural carbon sinks and other technology - by 2050.

Accounting for emissions from products created once they are sold to a customer is known as Scope 3.

Repsol paid for the offsets in this transaction, and is evaluating how to handle the costs in the future, a spokesman said.