Reducing methane emissions

Overview

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) and the main component of natural gas. It comes from sources like fossil fuel extraction, wetlands, livestock digestion and landfills.

Alberta is showing global leadership to reduce methane because it traps heat in the atmosphere 28 times more effectively than carbon dioxide. This can increase global temperatures, affect ecosystems, weather patterns and sea levels, and can contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone, which can harm human health and damage crops and forests.

Learn more about Alberta's methane emissions reduction leadership.

Methane versus carbon dioxide

Methane is much more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat, but stays in the atmosphere for a shorter time. Most methane from human activities comes from energy production, landfills and farming, while carbon dioxide results mainly from fossil fuel combustion.

Reducing methane has a quicker impact on addressing global emissions, while reducing carbon dioxide is crucial for longer-term emissions reductions.

Methods and provincial management

Flaring

Flaring is the burning of natural gas that cannot be processed or sold, usually through a flare stack. In Alberta, flaring is used to manage excess gas during oil production or when infrastructure for gas transport is unavailable.

Alberta’s government regulates flaring to minimize environmental impacts, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure gas is managed efficiently and effectively.

Venting

Venting is the release of natural gas directly into the atmosphere without burning. In Alberta, venting occurs during oil and gas production when gas is expelled as a by-product or during equipment maintenance and operation.

Alberta’s government regulates venting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate environmental impacts, encouraging practices that capture and utilize the gas instead.

Fugitives

Fugitive emissions are unintentional leaks of gases, such as methane, from equipment or infrastructure. In Alberta, fugitive emissions often occur in oil and gas operations, from valves, flanges and other components.

Alberta’s government monitors and regulates these emissions to minimize environmental and health impacts, promote efficient gas use and meet climate targets.

Flexible and effective regulations

Alberta has flexible and effective regulations designed to:

• demonstrate Alberta’s global leadership as a sustainable oil and gas producers
• meet global standards for stronger market access
• provide global credibility and certainty of emissions reductions

Methane is regulated in Alberta through the Alberta Energy Regulator’s Directive 060: Upstream Petroleum Industry Flaring, Incinerating, and Venting and Directive 017: Measurement Requirements for Oil and Gas Operations. Legislated through Alberta’s Methane Emission Reduction Regulation, these directives allow Alberta to maintain jurisdiction over methane emissions, avoiding federal regulations though an equivalency agreement.

The directives were developed with input from industry, technology development and research institutions, environmental non-government organizations and the public. The directives address common sources of methane emissions from the upstream oil and gas industry including:

• pneumatic devices which use compressed gas to operate equipment such as valves and pumps in drilling, production and processing operations
• fugitive emissions, which are unintentional releases of methane
• equipment and solution gas venting, which is the intentional release of methane and other gases

The directives also include changes to measurement, monitoring and reporting of methane emissions to support improved understanding and tracking of oil and gas methane emissions.

To complement the regulatory approach to methane reduction, Alberta continues to use innovative non-regulatory programs not required by law and market-based tools such as financial incentives to reward projects that reduce methane emissions.

A strong measuring system

Alberta's methane measurement system features a robust and advanced Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) framework. While the federal system is still in development, Alberta’s MRV system is already in place, providing the best data currently available through a start-of-the-art reporting platform.

This framework enables the use of the latest technology and innovative methods to enhance accuracy and precision. This proactive approach not only strengthens regulatory compliance and environmental stewardship, but also reinforces Alberta’s leadership in emissions reductions and resource management, positioning the province at the forefront of the oil and gas sector.

Methane measurement is complex. There is no universally accepted standard on how methane emissions are measured, but there are 3 general ways to approach it:

• Direct: Using technology such as optical leak imaging, laser leak detectors and others to quantify an emission at a component, equipment or site level on a volumetric or mass basis.
• Parametric: Using pressure, temperature, flow rate, control efficiency, or other operational or equipment-specific characteristics to inform engineering calculations or computer simulations to quantify the emission source.
• Emission factor: Using standardized emission factors for specific equipment to estimate the quantity of methane released from the emission source on a volumetric or mass basis. These factors come from inventories or databases, but are not verified through direct quantification.

Methane emission sources must be measured at least once each year using direct, parametric or emission factor measuring and reported into either Petrinex, OneStop or both. The table below summarizes the methane emission source, the quantification method and the frequency for reporting:

Alberta has an effective monitoring system that uses a combination of bottom-up and top-down measurement, monitoring and verification techniques to ensure our methane emissions inventory is as accurate as possible. This includes both aerial surveillance led by the Alberta Energy Regulator and effective facility inspections on the ground. The Alberta Energy Regulator’s methane performance page contains information regarding audits and inspections for methane emissions.

Bottom up measurement, monitoring and verification

This method involves estimating emissions by starting at the source level. This approach looks at specific sources like individual oil and gas wells and then measures or estimates how much each source releases. These measurements are added up to estimate the total emissions for a given area. Bottom-up methods rely on ground-based sensors, equipment checks, and calculations based on known emission factors.

Top-down measurement, monitoring and reporting

This method starts from a broad scale or area measurement but can be as narrow as site or even source level. It involves measuring the total amount of methane in the atmosphere over an area using tools like satellites, airplanes, mounted continuous monitors, or even truck mounted monitors and then models are used to estimate where the methane is coming from within that area based on different kinds of data.

Methane emissions reduction progress

The chart below outlines the methane emissions (a combination of reported data and estimates) from 2014 to 2022 and forecasts to 2025. These reductions are the result of the requirements of Directive 060 and complementary programs. With a baseline methane emissions inventory in 2014 of 31.9 Mt of carbon dioxide equivalents, Alberta has reduced methane emissions by 52% to 15.3 Mt of carbon dioxide equivalents in 2023.

The methane emissions are established through data reported to the AER and estimates. Estimates supplement reported data to present a more complete picture of upstream oil and gas methane emissions by including emission sources without reporting requirements.

The evaluation excludes oil sands mining and upgrading emissions due to the significant difference in sources (primarily mine face and tailings ponds), control measures and abatement costs. Oil sands mining and upgrading methane emissions are regulated through the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction (TIER) Regulation.

Methane emissions intensity is a measure of how much methane is released per unit of production. Lowering intensity means producing the same amount of energy with fewer emissions.

The methane reduction requirements are a significant change to how industry manages and reports methane emissions from the conventional upstream oil and gas sector. To improve understanding and ensure compliance, the following activities are carried out annually by the Alberta Energy Regulator:

More than 1,500 compliance assurance activities were conducted by the Alberta Energy Regulator in 2023.

Resources

• Methane Emission Reduction Regulation

Related

• Methane emissions reduction leadership
• Alberta Energy Regulator Directives
• Alberta Emission Offset System
• Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction Regulation
• Baseline and Reduction Opportunity Assessment Program
• Alberta Methane Emissions Program
• Emissions Reduction Alberta
• Alberta Innovates