Photo: Climate Central

By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICVO STAFF

The rate of methane leaks from Mexico’s oil and gas operations is twice as high as that of the world’s top oil producer, the United States, according to a report issued this week by the U.S-based nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)

A byproduct of the oil and gas industry, methane gas, which is invisible and odorless, is much more dangerous to the environment than carbon dioxide, and is considered to be a major source of global warming.

According to Daniel Zavala, a EDF senior scientist specializing in methane emissions, roughly 4.7 percent of the methane produced in Mexico is leaked into the atmosphere,

In a Reuters news report on Wednesday, July 28, Zavala stated that the comparable figure for the United States was just 2.3 percent.

“This is a huge gap,” Zavala told Reuters. “Cutting these emissions in half would have the same climate benefit over 20 years as removing one third of total passenger cars in the country.”

The EDF study estimated that 1.3 million tons of methane is leaked into the air in Mexico each year, representing about one third of the nation’s natural gas imports and the equivalent to $200 million.