Algeria, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia among world's top methane 'super emitters'

Algeria, Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia have been named among the world's top 15 fossil fuel methane 'super emitters', according to a new report on the environmental crisis.

The landmark report by The Guardian looked at the worrying rise in 'methane bombs' that are contributing heavily to a rise in global temperatures.

While Turkmenistan, the US, and Russia had the highest number of methane super-emitting events from fossil fuels in 2022, Algeria was also in the top ten, almost all related to oil and gas production.

Around 40 percent of methane production is linked to fossil fuels, 40 percent from agriculture, and 20 percent from waste sites.

India, third on the list, was linked primarily to methane leaks at waste sites, while the US, Russia, and Turkmenistan dominated the list of methane leaks from fossil fuel sites.

"Methane is the worst thing in the struggle to hold back the [climate] domino pieces, because it’s pushing them over very quickly," Kjell Kühne, Leave it in the Ground Initiative, told The Guardian. "Having so many methane bombs out there is really worrisome."

One catastrophic 'methane bomb' event took place at a suspected oil field in Basra, Iraq in 2022 when 356 tonnes of methane were pumped into the atmosphere, the second largest leak of that year.

The single worst leak, near Turkmenistan's coast, pumped out the equivalent rate of 67 million cars.

Methane traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide but is quicker to fade and contributes massively to increases in global temperature rises.  

It is responsible for around a quarter of all heat trapped by greenhouse gases, but there are hopes that some of these emissions can be utilised.

The report mentioned that Qatar has 13 projects expected to produce more than 1 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide from methane - also known as 'methane bombs' - Iran nine, Saudi Arabia eight, and Algeria, Iraq, and the UAE two each.

The UAE, a major producer of oil and gas, will host the COP28 environmental summit later this year.