Platts to publish assessments of natural gas methane performance certificates

S&P Global Platts will begin publishing daily price assessments of Methane Performance Certificates (MPC) from Oct. 4, 2021.

This decision follows from a proposal published Aug. 9, 2021 and available here: https://www.spglobal.com/platts/en/our-methodology/subscriber-notes/080921-platts-proposes-to-begin-publishing-assessments-of-natural-gas-methane-performance-certificates.

The Platts MPC assessments will reflect the value of certificates traded in the spot market that represent low methane emissions in natural gas production in the contiguous United States and Canada. Each MPC corresponds to a specified volume of avoided methane emissions.

Platts will use data from market participants, including traders, brokers and exchanges to inform the assessment process. Information will include bids, offers, trades and registry change of ownership information. Platts will also seek to publish all relevant data during the assessment process and time stamp the assessed value at the 1:30 pm Central time market close.

Platts will reflect MPCs that have been issued against production that has a methane intensity of less than 0.1%. For production below this threshold, MPCs would be issued representing the percentage of methane intensity below the industry average of 0.437%. For example, a producer with a methane intensity of 0.0874%, or 80% below the industry threshold would receive 800 MPCs per 1,000 mmbtu of production. This producer would qualify for issuance of MPCs because its methane intensity is below a base threshold of 0.1%.

This threshold will be subject to continuous review as new data becomes available.

Methane emissions generated by production are a significant contributing factor to the carbon intensity of natural gas. Methane intensity represents the ratio of methane emissions to natural gas produced by determining and measuring the methane intensity of specific production streams.

Platts will only include MPC data that reflects measured emissions verified by third parties rather than estimated self-reported data. Measurement of emissions needs to be via a process that allows for continuous collection of production volumes and its respective methane intensity as measured and independently computed.

The assessment will be published in $/MPC and $/mtCO2e using a conversion factor of 161.29 MPC/mtCO2e. It will be published in the Gas Daily and Energy Trader publications, in the Americas Gas Service of Platts Dimensions Pro, and via market data and Platts Channel Partners.

Please send any questions to Americasgaspricing@spglobal.com, Platts_Carbon@spglobal.com and Pricegroup@spglobal.com. For written comments, please provide a clear indication if comments are not intended for publication by Platts for public viewing. Platts will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.