Globally, the oil and gas industry’s leaking wells pollute and is a serious problem, with no remedy in sight. Decades have passed with little done to fix the expensive problem because billion dollar profit-taking companies are not interesting in spending money to clean up after themselves, they are only interesting in conning the public so that the rich make more money and for the industry to get more billions in subsidies from the hungry citizenry with which to keep conning the public while drilling more and more leaking wells.
Industry knows it, so do its regulators in Canada and the USA. The problem is so serious, the first key conclusion of the 2006 international 2nd Well Bore Integrity Network Meeting was:
“There is clearly a problem with well bore integrity in existing oil and gas production wells, worldwide…..”
Suddenly, the very same irresponsible lying companies in BC with the same irresponsible lying self regulator have abandoned wells that mostly do not leak? Nope, I don’t buy their latest spin.
B.C. survey of abandoned gas wells released to mixed reviews, Energy regulator finds less than 1% of abandoned B.C. wells leak but some researchers aren’t convinced by Isaac Phan Nay, CBC News, Jun 22, 2024
A landmark government study of abandoned natural gas wells in B.C. has found less than one per cent are leaking planet-warming methane into the atmosphere — but some experts in the field say they’re not convinced the provincial energy regulator’s survey is representative of the actual situation on the ground.
The regulator commissioned a helicopter to fly 90 to 150 metres above 1,221 wells across the province between 2017 and 2023, with a laser directed toward each site.
A laser passing through methane gas would reflect a weaker signal to a detector in the helicopter — indicating a leak.
Results published at the end of May indicated that 25 of the wells surveyed showed possible signs of a leak. Of those, the regulator confirmed six were leaking methane. It is still investigating nine.
Aaron Cahill, a geoscientist at Heriot-Watt University in the U.K. who has previously worked with the regulator, says the initiative can find the largest leaks but might miss what’s actually happening on the ground.
“I’m healthily skeptical of these types of surveys,” Cahill said.
“I know what I see on the ground, and I find it challenging to believe you would definitely see that from a helicopter.”
The report from the B.C. Energy Regulator indicates B.C. has about 7,700 wells that have already been plugged and abandoned. Another 7,500 are suspended or otherwise inactive. About 16,000 more wells, many of which are fracking, will need to be decommissioned in the coming decades.
Many of the plugged and abandoned wells were frac’d too. No well seal will stop frac’s from leaking methane, other gases and mystery frac chemicals, the gases will rise into water wells and to surface via soils not just via shitty and frac’d to hell well bores.
SCVF = Surface casing vent flow
GM = Gas migration.
Note well: Industry knows their wells leak, badly, even before they are frac’d and has tried for decades to find ways to appropriately repair their leaks, only to fail, again and again. Companies and the enabling self regulators have known this for decades. Gov’ts have known this too, and instead of enforcing polluter pay laws (just a farce to con the public with), they keep approving drilling and frac’ing of more and more new leakers.
These wells in Quebec were found to have had more than half leaking before they were even frac’d. Frac’ing makes leaks much worse. Industry was ordered to fix the leaks, they tried, and failed!
Recent research shows newer wells leak worse than older ones. Industry’s inhumane greed and insanely massive fracs has made their leak problem much worse. Companies do not want to pay to clean up after their frac’ing filthy polluting selves as climate chaos caused floods, fires, storms, winds etc kill more and more innocent people.
To decommission oil and gas wells, the regulator requires site owners to seal wells with concrete plugs, clean up contaminants and restore local ecosystems.
However, Mary Kang, a civil engineering researcher at McGill University, said even if an operator properly seals a well, earthquakes, land disruptions, and other factors can cause plugs to fail years after they are decommissioned. With greedy frac’ers causing frac quakes after frac quakes, not giving a damn about the cumulative harms companies are causing to their leaky frac fields and wells.
The Government of Canada unveiled its plan to reduce methane gas emissions from the oil and gas sector at the COP28 climate change summit. Methane is a significantly more potent greenhouse gas and contributor to global warming than carbon dioxide.
The survey included wells that had yet to be plugged.If this statement is true, it proves to me this survey by BCER is bogus, just like industry’s fracfocus is.
In an email to CBC News, Lannea Parfitt, a spokesperson for the B.C. Energy Regulator, said it studied primarily natural gas wells, while oil wells made up a “small proportion” of the survey.
Husky’s definition was published in the 90s.
“The findings from this program support the assertion that well decommissioning requirements are robust and effective,” Parfitt said.Pfffft! I don’t believe it.
She added the flyover helps the regulator monitor wells in hard-to-reach or remote places.
But oil and gas well researchers say the number of leaks could be much higher. In a separate study, Kang and researchers compared the regulator’s flyover data to an on-the-ground assessment.
They found the regulator’s airborne survey method likely misses methane emission rates of up to 450,000 milligrams of methane per hour. — roughly equivalent to the emissions from driving 52 kilometres in a gas-powered car, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. On some occasions, Kang and co-researchers say they found the survey missed wells leaking methane at 10 times that rate.
Cahill said weather, temperature and even the downdraft from the helicopter can affect how methane flows from the well, skewing the data.And, intentionally pointing the laser away from the wells …. ??? There are endless ways to intentionally skew studies.
Nonetheless, he said the flyover survey is important. While an inspector may only be able to attend one or two wells per day, Cahill said a flyover survey can monitor hundreds of wells in the same period.
“They’re going to see the big leaks,”Maybe, if their laser is pointing the right way Cahill said. “But I wouldn’t hang my hat on that being the definitive answer to what’s going on in B.C.”
Parfitt said the regulator conducts 4,500 on-the-ground inspections of oil and gas infrastructure each year, including some decommissioned wells. She said the office is committed tocode for we’re making certain and will continue to make certain polluters get away with polluting and profiting as much as they like monitoring decommissioned wells and plans to continue its flyover survey in the coming years.
Kang noted there are no legal requirements for the regulator to monitor decommissioned oil and gas wells.Of course there aren’t. The corporate raping rich wouldn’t allow self regulation of their badly leaking industry any other way. It’s a frac-frenzied brute force and ignorant free for all fast destroying earth’s livability.
“Everybody can always do more,” Kang said. “But I will say that [B.C.] is doing more than what other provinces are doing.”
Alberta oil and gas sector exceeded flaring limit in 2023, data shows, AER, CAPP decline to comment on findings by Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press, Jun 24, 2024, CBC News
For the first time, Alberta’s oil and gas industry has exceeded the province’s own regulatory limit for natural gas flaring.
Ya, typical regulatory practice in Alberta. 2001-2006, Encana/Ovintiv broke every law and regulation in place to protect Alberta drinking water supplies, with AER, Alberta Environment, Alberta Research Council (now Alberta Innovates) twisting and bending themselves into doughnuts to enable and cover-up the crimes while lying to the impacted landowners and communities, and punishing me instead of Encana. AER is an industrial self regulator. Regulations for the energy industry are regularly ignored and violated, with AER aiding in the violations and cover-ups.
A tally by The Canadian Press of Alberta Energy Regulator data shows oil and gas companies in the province flared approximately 754 million cubic metres of natural gas last year, exceeding the annual provincial limit of 670 million cubic metres.
Flaring refers to the practice of burning off the excess natural gas associated with oil production. Though it is better for the environment than some other methods of gas disposal, it still releases harmful substances into the atmosphere.
The AER declined to comment on the findings, referring questions about possible penalties or other actions to the provincial government instead. But a 2022 report by the regulator on oil and gas emissions shows flaring volumes in Alberta have been increasing since 2016 and nudged close to the regulatory limit in 2022.
In that report, the AER said it “expects flaring to continue to increase” in the future, even as the regulations themselves aim to have the oil and gas sector “continue to reduce” the volume of flare gas released.
Scientists to study health impacts of Squamish, B.C., LNG plant
Oil and gas flaring became a political flashpoint in Alberta last week. We take a look at whyNatural gas is a byproduct that comes to the surface when companies drill oil wells. If the volumes of gas are small, and there are no pipelines nearby to transport the gas, companies often choose for economic reasons to dispose of it through flaring.
Flaring can also occur for safety reasons, to reduce sudden pressure increases at well sites.
Flaring volumes have been rising in part due to growing oil output in Alberta. But companies have also been turning increasingly to flaring in order to reduce venting, a term that refers to the direct release of unburned methane into the atmosphere from an oil or gas facility.
From an environmental perspective, flaring is considered preferable to venting. The methane released through venting is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, with even more heat-trapping potential than carbon dioxide.
Reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production is a stated priority for both the federal and provincial governments. And in fact, Alberta’s oil and gas methane emissions are estimated to have been reduced by approximately 45 per cent between 2014 and 2022, according to the AER.
Industry group says emissions from Canadian oil and gas extraction down 24%, but that doesn't include oilsands
Calgary oil and gas company fined for violating methane rulesBut flaring isn’t harmless, either. While the combustion process involved in flaring reduces the amount of methane released significantly, flaring still releases a variety of byproducts and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, according to oil and gas data provider Enverus.
It also produces black soot which negatively impacts air quality and may pose a risk to human health, said Amanda Bryant, a senior oil and gas analyst with clean energy think-tank The Pembina Institute.
“Flaring as a form of mitigation just replaces one set of problems with another set of problems,” Bryant said.
“There’s also no reason why industry should be exceeding the limits, when there are alternatives available.”
She said these alternatives include the installation of a vapour recovery unit, which can be used to capture flare gases and redirect them back into production for use as fuel.
Other alternatives include compressing the natural gas and trucking it short distances to use as fuel off-site, or converting the gas to electric power using small-scale generators.
CAPP declines to comment
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers declined to comment on the industry’s increasing flare volumes.
In an emailed statement, Ryan Fournier, press secretary for Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, said because the industry exceeded the provincial limit, the Alberta Energy Regulator has instructed the 20 highest flaring operators to create detailed plans to reduce flaring at their sites.
He said while reducing flaring is important, reducing overall methane emissions from the oil and gas sector remains the bigger goal.
“We are also now reviewing Alberta’s flaring policies, first established back in 2002, to see if updates are needed,” Fournier said.
Pressure grows to address globally
Worldwide, there is growing pressure on oil and gas producers to reduce both flaring and venting.
The U.S. Department of Energy says both practices represent “significant challenges” for operators and regulators, who must work together to bring down oil and gas emissions.
The World Bank calls the practice of flaring “wasteful and polluting” and has identified the need to reduce flaring volumes globally as an urgent problem. The World Bank has also pointed to recent scientific studies that suggest more methane may escape into the atmosphere during the flaring process than previously assumed, suggesting the greenhouse gas impact from flaring could be underestimated.
In Canada, the federal government’s updated draft methane regulations — which aim to reduce oil and gas methane emissions by at least 75 per cent from 2012 levels by 2030 — say any flaring not being conducted for safety reasons will need to be supported by an engineering study that demonstrates a lack of other alternatives.
Bryant said Canada needs not only strong policy, but strong enforcement, to ensure Canada’s oil and gas sector keeps up with global efforts to reduce flaring.
‘Because time is of the essence’
But Julia Yuan, a PhD student with the University of Calgary’s department of chemical and petroleum engineering, said if increased flaring is a byproduct of less venting and overall methane emissions from oil and gas production, then it may be something society needs to accept for now.
“Perhaps flaring isn’t that bad of an alternative — at least at this point in time when we’re just trying to do as much (on climate change) as we can as soon as possible,” Yuan said.
“Because time is of the essence.”
Comments:
David Wilson:
UN chief says world is on ‘highway to climate hell’ as planet endures 12 straight months of unprecedented heat
Guterres laid blame for the climate crisis firmly at the doorstep of fossil fuel companies that “rake in record profits and feast off trillions in taxpayer-funded subsidies,” he said.
These companies have spent billions of dollars over decades “distorting the truth, deceiving the public and sowing doubt,” he added. He called on every country to ban fossil fuel ads, similar to advertising bans implemented around the world for other products that harm human health, such as tobacco.
“We are at a moment of truth,” he said, adding that the battle for a liveable planet would be won or lost in this decade.
He called on world leaders to take immediate action, including huge cuts in planet-heating pollution and an immediate end to any new coal projects. He pushed rich countries to commit to quitting coal by 2030, reducing oil and gas by 60% by 2035 and increasing the flow of funding to the poorest, most climate-vulnerable nations
Walter Vrbetic:
And abandoned wells … per the AER website:
“About 170 000 abandoned wells exist in Alberta, representing 37 per cent of all wells in the province. However, even after wells are abandoned, they remain the responsibility of the company that owns them.”
Ralph Steinberg:
Yet the provincial government has an orphan well fund, that is supposed to be paid into, by these owners…..and they do not regulate that well at all, why the feds had to kick in millions to help with the clean up.Still, the delinquent profit-raping companies didn’t clean up — the money went into rich pockets instead, as usual.
Walter Vrbetic:
Yep… AER Orphaned Well site states that the fund is supposed to prevent taxpayers from being saddled with the cost.Big Oil Dildo Premier Danielle Smith was and remains an industry profit-raping stooge. She’s planning to give polluting la violating companies $20Billion from the citizenry, on top of the billions of dollars already given by Alberta govts and the feds (while blaming everything on Trudeau, even the corrupt shit Steve Harper created while PM), and the evil Dildo is planning on stealing more than half of Canadians’ CPP to give to the polluters too. She’ll get away with it, because rural Albertans control the vote their greed has made them the stupidest (oil and gas corrupts greed and the brain) voters in Canada.
Standard M.O…
Major O&G company sells a deminishing producing well to a junior…
Junior milks what they can for a couple of years… and then goes bankrupt leaving AB taxpayers to foot the bill..
Solution?
Make payments into the fund manditory from the very first day of production.
The Guardian May 2/24
“Methane emissions from gas flaring being hidden from satellite monitors
Use of enclosed combustors leaves regulators heavily reliant on oil and gas companies’ own flaring data”
I recall the uproar when an AB minister brought up Smith’s RStar proposal to address abandoned orphaned wells at a meeting of the AB RMA… it appears rewarding energy companies billions was too much even for the Regional Municipalities Association… since O&G companies owe them several hundred million in municipal taxes.
When Kenney cut corporate taxes by a third in 2019 it was a big bonus… gave three oil sands operators a combined $2b in extra profits in one quarter alone.
Nicholas Winkler:
Alberta oil and gas sector exceeded flaring limit in 2023, data shows”
Some folks just seem to think rules, guidelines and laws don’t apply to them.
Because industry and its self regulators and owned govts are in cahoots; their plan to evade clean up began decades ago, with it intended all along for polluting, life and aquifer destroying companies to walk from legal liabilities, clean up, dumping the costs and many health harms on the citizenry, enabled by courts and politicians, no matter what polka dot. Fossil Fools and their enablers like AER, BCER and CER piss on the rule of law.
Brent Grywinski:
A huge waste of usable energy which is not renewable.
Dave Sellers:
Yet the feds still gave Big Oil $18 billion in subsidies last year and a $34 billion bitumen oil pipeline.
Johannes Dietz:
Actually, it bears mentioning that this industry finds it cheaper to use the atmosphere as their garbage bin than to find a use for a saleable product while they rake in record profits and large public subsidies. Your tax dollars pay for this practice.
The carbon tax affects the cost of living by reducing those. 80% of Canadians get more in rebates than they pay in carbon tax, and many choose to electrify their driving and heating. No tax on that.
Peter Hill:
The Alberta government will get to bottom of who leaking this information.
Gary Wooton:
That’s the only leak that they care about.
Hamilton Farkbuckle:
“The AER declined to comment on the findings, referring questions about possible penalties or other actions to the provincial government instead.”
I admit I laughed out loud when I read that the AER had a ‘limit’ for anything.
Henry Hill:
Without Pathways Alliance spread false claims about climate change, Canadians are now seeing the truth about the oil and gas industry. They don’t care about you or climate change one bit. They will pay off whatever politicians they can and take whatever money they can from you.
Alberta’s oil and gas sector exceeded flaring limit for first time in 2023, data show by Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press, June 24, 2024, The Globe and Mail
For the first time, Alberta’s oil and gas industry has exceeded the province’s own regulatory limit for natural gas flaring.
A tally by The Canadian Press of Alberta Energy Regulator data shows oil and gas companies in the province flared approximately 754 million cubic metres of natural gas last year, exceeding the annual provincial limit of 670 million cubic metres.
Flaring refers to the practice of burning off the excess natural gas associated with oil production. Though it is better for the environment than some other methods of gas disposal, it still releases harmful substances into the atmosphere.
The AER declined to comment on the findings, referring questions about possible penalties or other actions to the provincial government instead. But a 2022 report by the regulator on oil and gas emissions shows flaring volumes in Alberta have been increasing since 2016 and nudged close to the regulatory limit in 2022.
In that report, the AER said it “expects flaring to continue to increase” in the future, even as the regulations themselves aim to have the oil and gas sector “continue to reduce” the volume of flare gas released.
Natural gas is a byproduct that comes to the surface when companies drill oil wells. If the volumes of gas are small, and there are no pipelines nearby to transport the gas, companies often choose for economic reasons to dispose of it through flaring.
Flaring can also occur for safety reasons, to reduce sudden pressure increases at well sites.
Flaring volumes have been rising in part due to growing oil output in Alberta. But companies have also been turning increasingly to flaring in order to reduce venting, a term that refers to the direct release of unburned methane into the atmosphere from an oil or gas facility.
From an environmental perspective, flaring is considered preferable to venting. The methane released through venting is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, with even more heat-trapping potential than carbon dioxide.
Reducing methane emissions from oil and gas production is a stated priority for both the federal and provincial governments. And in fact, Alberta’s oil and gas methane emissions are estimated to have been reduced by approximately 45 per cent between 2014 and 2022, according to the AER.
But flaring isn’t harmless, either. While the combustion process involved in flaring reduces the amount of methane released significantly, flaring still releases a variety of by-products and greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, according to oil and gas data provider Enverus.
It also produces black soot which negatively impacts air quality and may pose a risk to human health, said Amanda Bryant, a senior oil and gas analyst with clean energy think-tank The Pembina Institute.
“Flaring as a form of mitigation just replaces one set of problems with another set of problems,” Bryant said.
“There’s also no reason why industry should be exceeding the limits, when there are alternatives available.”
She said these alternatives include the installation of a vapour recovery unit, which can be used to capture flare gases and redirect them back into production for use as fuel.
Other alternatives include compressing the natural gas and trucking it short distances to use as fuel off-site, or converting the gas to electric power using small-scale generators.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers declined to comment on the industry’s increasing flare volumes.
In an e-mailed statement, Ryan Fournier, press secretary for Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz, said because the industry exceeded the provincial limit, the Alberta Energy Regulator has instructed the 20 highest flaring operators to create detailed plans to reduce flaring at their sites.Nice, but, those plans will sit in big fat black binders filled with details and promises, used by no one, while companies keep polluting, lying and breaking the law as usual
He said while reducing flaring is important, reducing overall methane emissions from the oil and gas sector remains the bigger goal.
“We are also now reviewing Alberta’s flaring policies, first established back in 2002, to see if updates are needed,” Fournier said.
Worldwide, there is growing pressure on oil and gas producers to reduce both flaring and venting.
The U.S. Department of Energy says both practices represent “significant challenges” for operators and regulators, who must work together to bring down oil and gas emissions.
The World Bank calls the practice of flaring “wasteful and polluting” and has identified the need to reduce flaring volumes globally as an urgent problem. The World Bank has also pointed to recent scientific studies that suggest more methane may escape into the atmosphere during the flaring process than previously assumed, suggesting the greenhouse gas impact from flaring could be underestimated.
In Canada, the federal government’s updated draft methane regulations – which aim to reduce oil and gas methane emissions by at least 75 per cent from 2012 levels by 2030 – say any flaring not being conducted for safety reasons will need to be supported by an engineering study that demonstrates a lack of other alternatives.
Bryant said Canada needs not only strong policy, but strong enforcement, to ensure Canada’s oil and gas sector keeps up with global efforts to reduce flaring.
But Julia Yuan, a PhD student with the University of Calgary’s department of chemical and petroleum engineering, said if increased flaring is a byproduct of less venting and overall methane emissions from oil and gas production, then it may be something society needs to accept for now.as if any of us living beside toxic polluters or society has any rights whatsoever.
“Perhaps flaring isn’t that bad of an alternative – at least at this point in time when we’re just trying to do as much (on climate change) as we can as soon as possible,” Yuan said.
“Because time is of the essence.”
Refer also to:
