Alberta solution gas flaring

Overview

Energy companies in Alberta must manage all waste products at oil and gas facilities, and waste gases are one of these waste products. Flaring is one way companies can dispose of their waste gases and Alberta requires that this activity is carried out responsibly, with provincial regulatory requirements led by the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) that ensure companies protect public health and the environment.

Alberta is way ahead of many other jurisdictions when it comes to leadership on flaring, but when production increases, we do see flaring increases, as well. The province is working to continue reducing flaring, where possible and safe to do so.

Flaring

Flaring is a process used in the oil and gas industry to burn off natural gas that cannot be processed or sold. It involves the controlled burning of waste gases sent up a long metal tube and ignited at the end resulting in the characteristic flame associated with flaring.

There are several types of flaring in Alberta and they typically occur at wells or batteries where oil is produced or stored.

Flaring may be done on an intermittent/infrequent basis or continuously. In cases where flaring is done infrequently or intermittently, it may be due to an emergency, safety or upset scenario and is needed to dispose of gases quickly. If flaring is being done on a continuous basis and is part of routine operations where there may be limited pipeline infrastructure to move the gas, or economic constraints (the gas is worth less than the value of the infrastructure needed to conserve, or save it), the natural gas may be combusted. Since natural gas can be a valuable commodity, it can be conserved and sold for beneficial purposes such as fuel for generating electricity.

Depending on the composition of the waste gas stream and the efficiency of the flare, flaring may result in release of both air pollutants, like nitrogen dioxide, and greenhouse gases, with the vast majority of emissions from routine flaring being carbon dioxide and water vapour.

Key flaring definitions

Routine flaring occurs continuously or intermittently on a regular basis due to normal operations. This is not in response to safety concerns.

Non-routine (unplanned flaring) occurs during emergency or upset operational activities closely associated with protecting the integrity of the facility and ensuring safety. The operator has no control over when these activities will occur.

Upset flaring (non-routine) occurs when one or more process parameters fall outside the allowable operating or design limits, and flaring is required to aid in bringing the production back under control. This is not associated with public safety or facility integrity.

Solution gas

Solution gas is another name for natural gas that is dissolved in crude oil under reservoir conditions (which are subsurface rocks that are able to store fluids such as water or oil and gas inside their pores or fractures) and released as a result of pressure and temperature changes as it comes to the surface with the crude oil. Under AER regulatory requirements, solution gas constitutes all gas that is separated from condensate, oil, or bitumen production. It can be made up of natural gas components, including hydrogen, and carbon compounds such as methane.

Solution gas flaring, as with all flaring, results in both air pollutants (including nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxides and volatile organic compounds) and greenhouse gas emissions (including carbon dioxide and water vapour). The type of emissions depends on the solution gas composition and how efficiently it is burned. The minimum combustion temperature, liquid separation and minimum heating value of the waste gas stream in the AER regulatory requirements ensures that components in the waste gas, including methane and hydrogen sulphide, are adequately combusted.

While flaring may be necessary in some cases for safety, as defined under non-routine flaring above, solution gas flaring is primarily a routine operation in Alberta and is not done for safety reasons but forms part of normal operations.

Solution gas flaring is related to methane management because natural gas is a component of solution gas, which has varying concentrations of methane and other hydrocarbons. Solution gas flaring, however, is managed as a distinct issue in Alberta due to environmental and health impacts that can be experienced locally and regionally.

Alberta’s leadership

Alberta was the first oil and gas producing jurisdiction to put requirements on emissions from flaring, starting in the early 1990s, and the first regional government in North America to set a methane emissions reduction target for the oil and gas sector, committing to reducing these emissions by 45% from 2014 levels by 2025. Alberta achieved this methane emissions reduction target 3 years early.

The province’s approach to reducing methane emissions from flaring, venting and fugitives is an international best practice and has won national and international awards. This includes bringing in the Solution Gas Flaring Limit in 2002 and being the only province in Canada to have such a limit to this day.

Our current requirement is based on data and working with industry. The Clean Air Strategic Alliance (CASA), set up a team for flaring and venting implementation. This team provided their recommendations through a report, the Management of Routine Solution Gas Flaring in Alberta, which were incorporated into the AER's Directive 060.

Solution gas is a non-renewable resource and a valuable commodity around the world today, and an area where Alberta continues to show environmental stewardship when it comes to managing our natural resources.

Regulatory requirements and limit

The AER regulates solution gas flaring through performance and reporting requirements, permits, authorizations and data collection as detailed in the AER’s Directives below:

• Directive 060: Upstream Petroleum Industry Flaring, Incinerating, and Venting
• Directive 017: Measurement Requirements for Oil and Gas Operations

These regulatory requirements guide the upstream petroleum industry’s continued work to reduce the volume of solution gas that is routinely flared. As written in Directive 060, the AER expects industry will pursue continuous improvement in reducing solution gas flaring in Alberta, and, in consultation with stakeholders, monitors progress to determine the need for additional requirements to facilitate increased solution gas conservation.

More information on historic solution gas flaring and conservation volumes can be found at:

• ST60B: Upstream Petroleum Industry Emissions Report

Directive 060 sets a provincial solution gas flaring limit at 670 106 m3 per year. For reference, this volume may be equivalent to the volume of natural gas used for over 200,000 average Alberta homes in one year. Directive 060 states that if solution gas flaring exceeds this limit in any given year, the AER will impose reductions that will stipulate maximum solution gas flaring limits for individual operating sites based on analysis of the most current annual data to reduce flaring to less than the annual limit.

Conservation

Conservation is the recovery of solution gas for use as fuel for production facilities, for other useful purposes such as power generation, for sale, or for beneficial injection into an oil or gas pool, such as to maintain pressure or for enhanced oil recovery. The requirements for conservation are outlined in the AER’s Directive 060.

Additional information

For more information on the AER and its processes or if you wish to speak to a local AER field centre or have questions about energy resource development in Alberta, contact the AER’s Customer Contact Centre: Monday to Friday (8 am to 4:30 pm) at 1-855-297-8311 (toll free).

If you have information about a spill, release or emergency that could damage the environment, or a complaint about existing energy development activities, call the 24-hour Energy/Environmental Emergency and Operational Complaint Line at 1-800-222-6514.