Chasing methane, the invisible pollutant

The oil and gas industry is pushing LNG as a “bridge fuel” that will slash global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by replacing coal as a combustible fuel source. Unfortunately, the existing gas production and delivery system releases a massive amount of methane — nearly 120 megatonnes globally each year. We’re being led to believe it’s possible to eliminate all that wasted methane, but this could be another false promise from an industry that has fooled us too many times.  

Teresa Patry is a generational farmer, born on the property she now works just outside Vermillion, Alta. Patry and her family make a living raising cattle, sheep and goats. They also have two oil wells in the home quarter that have been venting methane for years. Despite multiple complaints about petrochemical smells and health problems, the Alberta Energy Regulator is allowing the wells on Patry’s farm to continue operating without mitigation.

Justin Mikulka from Oilfield Witness explains that for decades nothing has been done to avoid gas venting because, in many cases, the potential revenues from capturing, transporting and processing the gas don’t justify the capital expense required to build this infrastructure. “The industry in the US and Canada has made it very clear that they do not care about climate or the environment if it cuts into profits.” Clearly there isn’t much concern for the well-being of rural families either.

Catching fugitive methane

Controlled and uncontrolled venting of methane happens on a grand scale in Alberta. It comes from gas flares that have blown out, storage tanks with open hatches and from various purge points around batteries and gas processing plants. Methane is also dumped intentionally as a routine part of operations management. 

Sharon Wilson is a fifth generation Texan, former oil and gas industry worker and one of the founders of Oilfield Witness. She's been striving to expose the industry’s dirty methane secret for thirty years, long before the problem was acknowledged at COP26 in Glasgow. At that time, Wilson learned the system was fragile. 

The flow of gas must be maintained throughout a massive pipeline network from wells to storage batteries, gas processing facilities, high pressure export pipelines, municipal distribution systems, natural-gas power plants and LNG terminals. If there is a failure at any point, gas must be released to avoid a dangerous pressure build-up. 

According to Wilson, the gas supply can only be shut off at the source and shutting down a well is expensive and can damage its productivity. The process of bringing a well back online also releases a huge amount of methane.  

In 2023, oil and gas companies in Alberta reported venting 303 million cubic meters of gas, enough to fill more than 1,500 LNG tankers. Wilson contends that curtailing this waste will be virtually impossible in the system that exists today. Even fugitive methane, leaks in the system or other forms of unintentional releases will not be as easy to fix as regulators want people to believe.

Leaks and defective equipment are difficult and expensive to detect. On April 26th, 2024, a 36-inch gas pipeline burst outside of Edson, Alta., releasing nearly six million cubic meters of methane gas. The explosion created a seven-meter deep crater and caused a wildfire that consumed 60 hectares of forest around the site. 

Extinguishing trust

An investigation of the Edson incident revealed a crack in the pipe had been detected two years earlier by inline inspection equipment, but a team of four analysts downgraded the observed crack to a less severe and non-reportable classification. Equipment failure and human error are difficult to predict.

Perhaps there is no cause for concern. According to the Alberta Energy Regulator, the province has reduced its methane emissions by 52 per cent since 2014. The industry is on track to meet Canada’s Methane Strategy for reducing emissions 75 per cent by 2030, but this apparent success provides impetus for them to claim their emissions reduction efforts don’t require additional oversight or regulation. 

Janetta MacKenzie from the Pembina Institute says the actual amount Alberta has reduced its methane emissions is an open question. The oil and gas industry self-reports based on models that provide an estimated amount of emissions for each piece of equipment in their system. Mackenzie is concerned about models-based emissions reporting. “We know that those formulas, called emissions factors, are not very reliable; they’re not very accurate, and they don’t really capture how frequently or how badly equipment can fail.”

Carleton University professor Matthew Johnson’s research using airborne and satellite imaging to measure methane emissions near Red Deer, Alta. has shown that in some cases, “only six per cent of emissions were being captured by provincial reporting requirements for methane venting and flaring.”  

Other research indicates that methane emissions from abandoned wells could be seven times higher than what is stated in Canada’s National Inventory Report. A study published in the science journal Nature also discovered higher methane volumes than Alberta’s official estimates.

Limits on gas flaring were set in Alberta in 2002, but the province removed those limits after annual flare volumes greatly exceeded the flaring limit of 670 million cubic meters in 2023 and 2024. Total 2023 flaring based on monthly reporting to the province's energy regulator was over 1.3 billion cubic meters.

The regulator still maintains limits on venting, and it reported a reduction of over 50 million cubic meters in 2023. Flaring increased by more than that amount over the same period, perhaps accounting for much of the venting reductions.

At COP26, 159 nations pledged to drastically reduce their methane emissions by 2030. However, it’s debatable whether these reductions can be achieved given the inherently “leaky” nature of the gas production and delivery system. Changing market conditions could also hamper the effort if oil and gas corporations prioritize cost-cutting measures during a downturn in energy prices.

In Alberta, the regulator seems to allow the industry to have its own way when it comes to reducing methane emissions, capturing CO2 or cleaning up its abandoned wells. Questions remain whether methane pollution will be reduced further, eliminated or even reported accurately.

Robert Miller is a retired electronics engineer whose 35-year career included designing communication systems for Canada’s military and developing wireless technology for Alberta’s drilling rigs. 

Donald MacCallum holds a master’s degree in economics and political science and is deeply committed to advancing sustainable and green energy initiatives. 

[Top photo: While LNG is being pushed by the oil and gas industry as a "bridge fuel" that will slash global greenhouse gas emissions by replacing coal, the existing production and delivery system releases a massive amount of methane — a gas with 80 times the warming potential of CO2. Photo by: Shutterstock]