Onshore methane inventories in western Canada
We were the first research group to provide an inventory estimate of O&G methane emissions that was source-resolved, based on 7000 sites, and that made geographic nuances apparent. The research paper Methane emissions from upstream oil and gas production in Canada are underestimated investigates methane emissions from O&G production in Alberta, Canada Using airborne measurements and ground-based data, the study reveals that actual methane emissions are significantly higher than those reported in official inventories. We found that emission intensities vary greatly by region, with Lloydminster and Medicine Hat showing the highest intensities due to the high emission rates and low production volumes, respectively. This underestimation poses critical implications for climate policy and the transition to lower-carbon energy sources, as methane is a potent greenhouse gas. The study suggests the need for improved measurement and reporting practices to accurately capture emissions and guide mitigation efforts.
This research mentioned above was supported by: Sweet and sour: A quantitative analysis of methane emissions in contrasting Alberta, Canada, heavy oil developments, Active and inactive oil and gas sites contribute to methane emissions in western Saskatchewan, Canada, Methane emissions from conventional and unconventional oil and gas production sites in southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada, Methane emissions from contrasting production regions within Alberta, Canada: Implications under incoming federal methane regulations, and Methane emissions from hydraulically fractured natural gas developments in Northeastern British Columbia, Canada.
These efforts were made possible with funding from oil and gas producers via the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.
Offshore inventories in eastern Canada
In addition to onshore methane inventories, we were curious about offshore production on Canada’s east coast. Is it methane intensive? Are inventories for this type of production reflective of actual emissions?
In this study, we measured methane emissions from Newfoundland and Labrador’s three active offshore oil and gas platforms: Hibernia, SeaRose, and Hebron. An aircraft-based system was used for data collection, and two models (Mass balance and Gaussian dispersion) were used to estimate emission rates from each platform. We compared our estimates with reported methane emission data by the federal government, and for all platforms, measured emission rates were comparable to the estimates reported to the federal Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. We also compared our methane measurements with measured emission estimates of other offshore platforms in Malaysia, North Sea, and Gulf of Mexico.
Our results confirm that methane emissions intensity, and carbon dioxide equivalents, per barrel produced offshore are lower than for most onshore operations in Canada.
Thanks to Natural Resources Canada Emissions Reduction Fund and Energy Research and Innovation Newfoundland and Labrador for funding this work!
You can view a preprint of these findings here
Gas Migration
When oil and gas wells lose their integrity, due to incomplete bonding of the well to the formation, gases leak to surface. We’ve been working on gas migration issues for many years, and in a recent project we collaborated with the University of Windsor on the topic of better measurement. We’ve been probing the relationship between gas composition, including isotopes, at surface, and volumetric rates of methane emission around compromised well bores to develop a better understanding of gas migration and the associated phenomenon of surface casing vent flow.
We’ve developed a cost-effective, portable, chamber measurement system that shows gas migration is much more common than we thought. But, thankfully, many wells are affected only by a small degree which couldn’t be seen using the coarse, old tools advocated by the regulator. With the University of Windsor, we’ve also been building a risk matrix and regulatory thresholds for severity assessment that we hope could replace the outdated approach, which often creates confusion because of its coarseness, presently recommended by western regulators.
Inactive Wells
In Canada we have a large stock of inactive wells, many of which are “suspended” idle wells. Regulators are relatively permissive when it comes to requirements for site closure. When we talk about oil and gas methane emissions, most of the focus is on active producing sites. But how much do inactive suspended sites emit?
We just wrapped up an extensive analysis on idle wells, mining 14,800 measurements acquired across two provinces over a span of six years using various isolation scenarios. We found that suspended sites leak less frequently and less severely than active sites. Some of the most significant emitters were found near Red Deer and in the Saskatchewan heavy oil belt. Our measurements show that proposed methane regulatory amendments are a good idea, since they will extend the scope of screening surveys to include suspended sites that add measurably to overall oil and gas methane emissions.
Papers under development!
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) / Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
In 2009 when we started our work in CCS/EOR CO2 containment monitoring, the International Energy Agency CCS Technology Roadmap recognized the lack of “international monitoring and verification protocols” as the number one legal issue related to Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) rollout. Since then, much has changed. Even when CCS fell out of popularity, we were still working with organizations like the Petroleum Technology Research Centre, Cenovus Energy, Whitecap Energy, Shell, and Tundra Oil and Gas to advance measurement technologies and design of surface measurement systems.
As we enter a new era of CCS, where an abundance of new projects is being driven by new tax credit frameworks and supported by CO2 trunk lines, we still need good monitoring. Everything we’ve learned from our work at Aquistore, Weyburn, and Quest, can help us design better and less fallible monitoring systems.
More information can found in Atmospheric monitoring and detection of fugitive emissions for Enhanced Oil Recovery, Fugitive and vented methane emissions surveying on the Weyburn CO2-EOR field in southeastern Saskatchewan, Canada, Using the Kerr investigations at Weyburn to screen geochemical tracers for near-surface detection and attribution of leakage at CCS/EOR sites and Bulk and isotopic characterization of biogenic CO2 sources and variability in the Weyburn injection area.
