Natural gas often escapes unburned during production and distribution, and its essential component — methane — is more than 80 times as potent as carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the earth’s atmosphere in the 20 years it takes to dissipate. The administration’s move would loosen regulations affecting methane emissions from pipelines, storage tanks and wells.

Without constraints on harmful emissions, some in the industry feel they will be less effective in arguing that gas should replace coal in generating power. And that would strengthen the case for favoring sources like wind and solar energy rather than gas to control global warming.

“What some people in the industry do not get, but others are beginning to get, is that we are transitioning to a low-carbon economy,” said Mark Boling, former executive vice president of Southwestern Energy and a consultant to oil companies trying to monitor emissions in Colorado. “If natural gas is going to replace coal, we need to show the climate benefit.”

Natural gas has replaced coal as the most important power fuel in the United States in recent years, largely because it is cheap and far cleaner to burn. Proponents say gas can be a “bridge fuel” that can back up wind turbines when the wind does not blow and solar arrays when the sun does not shine.

But critics note that the problem of leaks may be underestimated to the point where the environmental benefits of gas have been overstated. Big companies that propose to ship gas around the world in pipelines and in cooled liquid form want to counter that argument so they can increase exports to countries like India and China.