This week’s Highwood Bulletin presents new data on methane super-emitters, news on Alberta’s methane reduction progress, CCUS updates, successes, and controversies in Canada and China, results from Project Astra, a new free report, an interview of Highwood’s President in Digital Oil & Gas, funding opportunities, two new job postings at Highwood, and more!
New Data Reveals Persistent Super-Emitters
Aerial data published last week by Carbon Mapper and Environmental Defense Fund reveals that a small number of facilities are persistently emitting vast quantities of methane over multiple years. Repairing the 30 largest sources (about 0.001% of sites tracked) would lead to savings of US $26MM/year of natural gas – nearly $1MM per facility. Read more here.
Highwood’s President on Digital Oil and Gas Podcast
Geoffrey Cann’s Digital Oil and Gas podcast featured a chat this week with Highwood’s President, Thomas Fox. The conversation covers Highwood, emissions management opportunities, and much more! Listen for free here.
Alberta on Track to Achieve 45% Methane Target
A new report states that Alberta has reduced its oil and gas methane emissions by 34% from 2014 to 2020, suggesting that only 11% further reductions are required to achieve the 45% reduction target by 2025. The report, issued by the Government of Alberta, can be accessed here. Read more coverage of the report here.
China Hits CCUS Milestone
Construction of China’s Qilu-Shengli Oilfield carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) project has completed, making it the country’s first 1MM tonne per year project (how much gas is that?). Construction for the project – which is led by Sinopec – began in July 2021. Injected carbon will be used to enhance oil recovery. Read more here.
West Texas Methane Sensor Inter-Comparison
The January update of the West Texas Methane Sensor Inter-Comparison has been posted, which details progress on identifying continuous measurement strategies for monitoring fugitive emissions from oil and gas facilities. The sensor comparison, which is part of Project Astra, found that multiple sensors can detect 0.5-1 ppm methane mixing ratio anomalies at a cost of <$2000. Learn more here.
Academics Oppose Canada’s Carbon Capture Tax Credit
In Canada, CCUS is a more controversial topic. Last week, Canada’s Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland received a letter penned by over 400 Canadian academics to abandon a tax credit for carbon capture. Those behind the letter claimed that the tax credit would amount to a subsidy for industry and argued that CCUs is unproven. Meanwhile, continuing a bad week for Canadian CCUS, a new report suggests that Shell’s Quest facility may be less effective than previously thought. Read more about the petition here and the new report here.
Highwood Publishes Free Report on Pipeline Methane Detection Technologies
Methane emissions from pipelines are of increasing interest to industry, regulators, and end users as they seek to understand the carbon intensity of natural gas across the supply chain. In recent years, there has been significant innovation in methane detection technology for detecting and quantifying methane emissions from gathering, transmission, and distribution pipelines. In a new report, Highwood Emissions Management provides an overview of commercially available methods for detecting natural gas leaks from pipelines. Download the free report here and catch some press here.
Emissions Reduction Fund is (Once Again) Open for Business
Canada’s Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) has had various setbacks that have frustrated just about everyone involved. After closing unexpectedly just before the application deadline in December, the $675MM Onshore program is now back and open for applications. Applications may be submitted until March 31st 2022 – reach out to Highwood if you’d like help designing a project and securing funding. Read more about the program here.
Join our Team! Highwood is Hiring!
We are pleased to be growing again and posting two new (and exciting) positions to join our team: ???????????? ???????????????????????????????????????? and ???????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????. Please access these postings here. Highwood is always looking for bright folks who want to help us change the world for the better. If you have experience in greenhouse gas emissions management and you’re looking for a career change, please reach out!
