Can Optical Gas Imagery Effectively Meet Federal Methane Reduction Goals?

Abstract

The objective of this project is to determine the effectiveness of Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) to detect, monitor, and mitigate methane emissions in Alberta’s upstream oil and gas sector. This is in support of the emerging Canadian government regulation to reduce methane emissions by 40- 45% below 2012 levels by 2025 (Alberta Government, 2017). As time is considerably limited for this industry to result in an immense operational and infrastructural change, commercial ready technology (TRK 9), such as OGIs, is fundamental as it is prepared for full marketable distribution and currently present within the industry. While operators utilize forms of OGI technology for leak detection, scientific evidence suggests under certain environmental conditions, detection effectiveness reduces significantly. Thus, this paper proposes to determine the number of days OGI technology can be used effectively in Alberta’s climate to detect emissions to meet federal methane reduction goals by 2025.