Helping industries reduce methane emissions

Henri Tessier gives Minister Phillips, Steve MacDonald, and Jackson Hegland a tour of his business’ workshop. — Photo courtesy Alberta.ca

The new Methane Emissions Reduction Program will help oil and gas facilities identify, reduce, improve or eliminate methane waste through energy-efficient equipment upgrades, boosting competitiveness, productivity and environmental performance.

“A key component of Alberta’s Climate Leadership Plan includes reducing methane emissions by 45 per cent by 2025. Methane emissions are not only harmful to our environment, they can shorten equipment life and increase operating costs for industry. This program will help pinpoint problem areas and solutions, saving businesses money, creating jobs and bringing Alberta closer to reaching our methane reduction targets.” — Shannon Phillips, Minister of Environment and Parks and Minister responsible for the Climate Change Office

The total incentive available for facility owners is $250,000 per facility, per fiscal year. The incentives are designed for oil and gas facilities operating in Alberta that do not exceed 40,000 barrels of oil per day.

“We expect these incentives to drive real action and results to reduce methane emissions, supporting an important sector of Alberta’s economy. We are especially grateful for the input and direction from the Methane Emissions Leadership Alliance in the creation of this initiative.” — Monica Curtis, CEO, Energy Efficiency Alberta

Work with the Alberta Energy Regulator to develop provincial oil and gas methane standards is also currently underway. While the directives are being finalized, government is supporting industry’s early action on methane reductions through:

• Emissions Reduction Alberta’s Methane Challenge, which invests in research and development of new technologies to reduce emissions. The 12 successful projects are estimated to reduce methane emissions by 6.9 megatonnes by 2030, bring $60 million of investment to Alberta and support 60 jobs.
• The Carbon Competitiveness Incentive Regulation, which attracts investment in clean technology, protects and creates jobs and diversifies Alberta’s economy.
• Oil Sands Innovation funding, which invests $440 million in carbon revenues to help large emitters upgrade facilities and processes to reduce emissions and thrive in a carbon-competitive global market.

“This program will allow producers to better understand their emissions profile and make the best decisions to reduce emissions. It also supports job growth and incentivizes the deployment of made-in-Canada technologies. Effective collaboration with industry and service providers means the program has been designed for simplicity and ease of use, encouraging rapid deployment.”  — Jackson Hegland, executive director, Methane Emissions Leadership Alliance

"Alberta’s oil and gas sector is producing real technological innovations when it comes to methane reduction. This program helps industry to field test this new technology in a cost-effective way, so it can make significant reductions in our GHG footprint." — Henri Tessier, president, Calscan Solutions Ltd.

“Working together to turn ideas into actions is a key strength of Alberta’s innovation ecosystem. This initiative supports projects designed to deliver greenhouse gas reductions, and complements the technology investments Emissions Reduction Alberta has made to reduce methane emissions.” — Steve MacDonald, CEO, Emissions Reduction Alberta

“This program is a momentous step toward the field deployment of methane emissions reduction technologies on a mass scale which will help Alberta’s producers meet their methane reduction targets by 2025.” — Soheil Asgarpour, president, Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada

Quick facts

• The climate change impact of methane is 25 times greater than carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
• In Alberta, the oil and gas industry is the largest source of methane emissions.
• Methane emissions in 2014 from Alberta’s oil and gas sector accounted for 70 per cent of provincial methane emissions and 25 per cent of all emissions from the upstream oil and gas sector.