New Research: Methane Emissions in Saskatchewan Are Four Times Higher Than Reported

Researchers in Saskatchewan have discovered that heavy oil facilities release nearly four times as much of a harmful greenhouse gas.

Matthew Johnson, an engineering professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, and one of the study’s authors, claims the findings challenge current industry practice by introducing innovative methods to detect methane emissions. 

“A lot of these (reports) are done on … estimates,” he said. “Clearly, they’re not very accurate.”

Methane is a gas released during oil extraction and is widely considered to be 25 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. It has been impossible to quantify these emissions, despite industry and government efforts to reduce them by three-quarters.

“These are hard measurements,” added Johnson.

To calculate the amount of methane released during oil production, companies often multiply the rate of methane release by the amount of oil produced. This method has been questioned by several recent investigations that have used direct measurement from overflying planes.

According to Johnson, the ratio of methane to oil is highly unpredictable and cannot be used for accurate calculations.

Johnson and his team measured methane emissions from 962 Saskatchewan heavy oil operations that use CHOPS technology, which utilizes sand to push oil to the surface, using the newest airborne and ground-based sensors.

The amount of methane released from those sites was found to be 3.90 times higher than what had been reported to government databases. That’s over 10,000 kg per hour, compared to the reports of 2,700 kg per hour.

“That methane, on its own, would be a significant contribution to the entire inventory of Saskatchewan,” Johnson said.

Unlike carbon dioxide, methane emissions have not previously been taxed. However, a s part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the United States is considering imposing a price for methane emissions.

“If you imagine a price on methane … a lot of these wells would be uneconomic.”

Yet, Johnson’s estimates imply the cost of lowering methane is low enough that the payback period for not paying a methane price can be two years. The payback period lowers to nine months for many wells if the oil’s value is included.

“Just installing basic combustion mitigation technology is not going to be a deal-breaker for the well, and you can get quite significant methane reductions.”

Original source material for this article taken from here