WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s administration was set to unveil new rules that aim to slash methane emissions from oil and gas production by up to 45 percent by 2025 in its latest move to solidify the Democratic president’s credentials on climate change.

Under the proposal, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Interior will issue measures to contain leaking methane, a potent greenhouse gas, from new drilling equipment and from old and new production facilities located on public lands.

Administration officials said Wednesday that the US is now the leading oil and gas producer in the world and, while emissions from the sector are down 16 percent since 1990, they are set to rise between now and 2025 if unabated.

Methane is the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, with nearly 10 percent of output in 2012. The new rules will be unveiled this summer and take effect in 2016.

They will aim to cut emissions by 40 percent to 45 percent from levels recorded in 2012, according to the White House.

The proposal is a hybrid of voluntary and mandatory measures.

It lays out future regulations for new or modified oil and gas drilling facilities and voluntary measures to tackle existing sources, where the bulk of methane emissions stem.

“The steps are a sound economic and public health strategy because reducing methane emissions means capturing valuable fuel that is otherwise wasted and reducing other harmful pollutants,” the White House said.

As the Obama administration continues to address climate change through executive measures, the oil and gas sector had been one of the remaining areas in which the federal government had left to seek emission cuts.

Environmental groups have pushed for months for strict mandatory curbs on methane output, while industry groups have tried to convince officials that the sector’s own voluntary measures have already made strides in reducing emissions.