* OGCI members to cut methane emissions to 0.25 pctintensity
* Group also creates China-focused investment fund(Adds quotes, reaction)
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 further 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 (Climate) Agreement," the heads of the OGCI memberssaid in a statement, referring to an international agreementaimed at limiting global warming.
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.
The U.S.-based Environment Defense Fund (EDF), anon-governmental organisation, said OGCI needs to adopt more,and transparent, ways of measuring methane emissions to meet thetarget.
"It will be critical now for companies to follow through ontheir commitment, reporting on progress with actual measuredemissions, fully and publicly disclosed," EDF President FredKrupp said in a statement.
"A second challenge for OGCI is the risk that laggards inthe industry hide behind their efforts, falsely claiming thatthe actions of an important few represent what all in theindustry are doing."
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).
The group is investing in new technologies, includingsatellite imagery, to help measure and detect methane leaks frompipelines, wells and other infrastructure, said PratimaRangarajan, head of OGCI Climate Investments.
"Today there is no global measurement, so what you don'tmeasure you don't fix or operate as well as you should," shetold Reuters in an interview.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso and Susanna Twidale; Editing by MarkPotter and Kirsten Donovan)
