The biggest sources of methane emissions from oil and gas sites are not pieces of equipment commonly seen as the main culprits, suggests a new study by a leading Canadian researcher.
The result is that Canada may be underestimating its powerful greenhouse gas emissions and neglecting effective ways to meet its reduction targets, says Matthew Johnson, director of the Energy and Emissions Lab at Carleton University and co-author of the article.
“It suggests it’s time to rethink,” he told CBC News.
“Maybe we can be a little more efficient at delivering reductions by tackling the things that matter.”
The research, which relied on laser technology mounted on an aircraft that flew over oil and gas sites in British Columbia in 2019, suggests that methane emissions are 1.6 to 2.2 times higher than current federal estimates.
Methane, the main component of natural gas, is released during the extraction of oil and gas from various equipment at a production site. It is about 70 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but only lasts in the atmosphere for about nine years. Canada’s goal is to reduce methane emissions 40-45% below 2012 levels by 2025.
Reducing methane is seen as a way to achieve more immediate positive benefits in the fight against climate change, but Canada can only do so if it knows where the odorless, colorless gas is coming from.
Large sources of methane missed
Regulations in Canada are primarily based on surveys that use optical gas imaging (OGI) cameras at oil and gas sites to detect sources of methane leaks. But the study suggests that there is a “marked difference” between what OGI investigations find and what new aircraft-mounted technology can see, and “policies and regulations based solely on OGI investigations may risk missing a point. significant part of emissions “.
More than half of methane emissions were attributed to storage tanks, reciprocating compressors and unlit torches, according to the study. Storage tanks were found to be a particularly worrying source of emissions, as they alone accounted for a quarter of methane emissions from oil and gas sites.
These sources are more difficult to detect with OGI readings because they are high and can be missed by a ground level camera.
“So these three sources tend to be very important,” Johnson said. “And if all of your inventory is based on camera work, then that’s starting to understand why we continue to see these persistent differences.”
Total emissions probably underestimated
Methane currently represents 13% of Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions, based on official estimates, but several studies that rely on field measurements have suggested that the actual amount of methane emitted is much higher. Until this new study, it was not known exactly which pieces of equipment were causing this discrepancy.
Tom Green, policy analyst at the David Suzuki Foundation in Vancouver, is following the methane problem closely. He says the new study’s finding that methane emissions are likely much higher than official estimates is not surprising but remains “alarming” because of the potential impact on the climate.
“Right now, we’re doing something pretty unfair, which is reporting relatively low methane emissions to the United Nations,” Green said.
“For such a large country on a global scale, in terms of its place in natural gas exports, we should be doing a lot, a lot more and we should show some leadership on this file.”
Green said a key issue is that current regulations place too much emphasis on finding leaks in general rather than identifying more fundamental issues.
“When you see that a quarter of the emissions come from the tanks, it’s not a leak,” Green said.
“It’s the tank is designed to allow methane to escape from the gas. So that’s a design issue.”
Regulations under consideration
British Columbia set limits for leaking tanks, but the study found leak rates with tanks well above the limits. Federal methane regulations, which provide a safety net to provincial regulations, do not directly regulate leaks from compressors and unlit torches.
The study was done in collaboration with the Government of British Columbia which, along with Alberta and Saskatchewan, has its own methane regulations. Federal government granted the equivalency agreements of three provinces to have their own regulations rather than having federal regulations imposed on them.
“The results of the new methane study require further research and measurement to ensure that we have the most accurate estimate of the sector’s total emissions and we continue to support this effort,” the Ministry of the Environment said. and the BC Climate Change Strategy in a news release. declaration.
The ministry said it would consider the new information when developing its detailed plan to meet its 2030 emissions targets, which will be released later this year.
In a statement to CBC News, Environment and Climate Change Canada acknowledged the uncertainties in estimating methane emissions and said it was working to improve the methodology of its official estimates.
“ECCC will review the author’s research for its relevance both for assessing existing regulations and for developing new policy options to further reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sectors.
“Amateur web enthusiast. Award-winning creator. Extreme music expert. Wannabe analyst. Organizer. Hipster-friendly tv scholar. Twitter guru.”