The House Science Committee has notified the chief executives of 10 major oil companies that they must disclose more data about their emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, in one of America’s biggest oil and gas producing regions.

The lawmakers wrote late Thursday that the companies’ current approach to monitoring methane emissions in the Permian Basin is inadequate, and that they must to do more to curb a pollutant that more than 100 other countries have pledged to cut by 30 percent by the end of the decade. The commitment, launched by the United States and the European Union, marked one of the highlights of last month’s U.N. climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.

“The United States cannot achieve its targeted reduction in methane emissions under the Global Methane Pledge without a swift and large-scale decline in oil and gas sector methane leaks,” Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, wrote in a letter to the chief executives. “The existence of these leaks, as well as continued uncertainty regarding their size, duration, and frequency, threatens America’s ability to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

Johnson wrote to most of the biggest fossil fuel producers in the Permian Basin, which extends from west Texas to New Mexico. They included ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Pioneer Natural Resources, as well as lesser-known companies including Ameredev II LLC, Coterra, Devon Energy, Admiral Permian Resources, and Mewbourne Oil.

ExxonMobil spokesman Casey Norton said the company’s plans align with the global methane goal. It plans to cut its own methane emissions 40 to 50 percent by 2026 compared with a decade earlier, while “developing, testing and deploying new methane detection and mitigation technologies.”

Pioneer Natural Resources Vice President Tadd Owens said that the company shares Johnson’s “interest in better understanding and minimizing methane emissions from the Permian Basin” and was “proud of the progress” it has made in methane and flaring reduction. He said it would take some time to provide a detailed reply to Johnson’s letter.