* OGCI members to cut methane emissions to 0.25 pctintensity
* Group also creates China-focused investment fund
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - A group of the world's top oiland gas companies pledged on Monday to slash emissions of apotent greenhouse gas by a fifth by 2025 in an effort to battleclimate change.
The Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), which U.S. giantsExxon Mobil and Chevron joined recently, committed to cuttingmethane emissions to an intensity of 0.25 percent of the group'stotal fossil fuel production, it said in astatement.
Such a reduction would equate to 350,000 tonnes of methaneannually. It compares with a baseline intensity of 0.32 percentin 2017, excluding new members.
The pledge, which could be lowered to 0.20 percentintensity, echoes targets set individually by members BP, RoyalDutch Shell and Exxon to reduce methane emissions.
"Our aim is to work towards near zero methane emissions fromthe full gas value chain in support of achieving the goals ofthe Paris Agreement," the heads of the OGCI members said in astatement, referring to an international agreement aimed atlimiting global warming.
"We have worked to make our ambition concrete, actionableand measurable, helping to ensure that natural gas can realizeits full potential in a low-emissions future."
The OGCI today represents nearly a third of global oil andgas production. It also includes BP, Royal Dutch Shell, France'sTotal as well as national oil companies of China, Mexico, Braziland Saudi Arabia.
In a separate announcement, timed to coincide with the startof Climate Week in New York, OGCI announced the creation of a$100 million China-focused climate investment fund with ChinaNational Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Editing by Mark Potter)
