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Ottawa targets methane emissions in B.C.’s oil and gas sector

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Canada and the U.S. pledged at the United Nations climate change summit in Egypt to take further steps to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector.

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During the climate summit, known as COP27, Canada announced it has published a framework outlining the main elements of new regulations to achieve a 75 per cent methane reduction by 2030 over 2012 levels.

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Industry and other interested parties have until Dec. 12 to respond to the proposed changes.

In British Columbia, the natural gas and oil sector is the second largest source of greenhouse gases after trucking and rail transportation.

The new Canadian regulations would apply to a wider set of methane sources, eliminate exclusions and drive as many sources as possible towards zero emissions.

The new rules would require the use of equipment that doesn’t produce carbon emissions, for example, switching from natural gas to electricity for compressors and valves used in processing plants, wells and pipelines.

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The regulations would aim to virtually eliminate flaring (the burning of gas) and venting (the discharge of unburned gas) and expand inspection programs and create a nationally-consistent monitoring and reporting program.

“Our work with the U.S. will strengthen regulatory ambition and alignment to support the competitiveness of our oil and gas sector. Cooperation between our two countries on methane emissions in the oil and gas sector is critical to fighting climate change, strengthening our economies, and protecting the health and safety of North Americans,” federal environment minister Steven Guilbeault said in a written statement.

Earlier this year, Canada announced it was working with the oil and gas industry on ways to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 and intended to set a methane reduction target of 75 per cent by 2030.

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U.S. President Joe Biden, the only leader of major-polluting countries to attend COP27, announced the U.S. government for the first time will require oil and gas producers to detect and fix leaks of methane.

Canada’s new rules will require the same for methane, which has more than 80 times the warming power of carbon dioxide during the first 20 years it reaches the atmosphere.

Officials with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, whose members represent 80 per cent of oil and gas production and include major players in British Columbia, said they are still reviewing details of the proposed regulatory framework and couldn’t comment directly.

However, spokeswoman Elisabeth Besson said Sunday Canada’s upstream oil and natural gas industry has been working diligently to reduce methane emissions.

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She noted recent reports, including from the Canadian government, show the sector is on track to meet an initial 45 per cent methane reduction target by 2025.

CAPP and its members have made emissions reduction a priority and will continue to invest in innovation, advancing Canada and industry’s goals of a cleaner-energy future where Canadian oil and natural gas play an important role providing the affordable, lower-emission energy that the world needs,” said Besson.

Environmental groups welcomed the new regulations.

Tom Green, senior climate policy adviser with the David Suzuki Foundation, said if the new regulations go ahead, Canada will be meeting and, in some cases, increasing the bar on global best practices.

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“Canada cannot meet its climate targets without driving down oil and gas emissions from this highly potent greenhouse gas,” said Green.

The B.C. government also has a carbon emission reduction plan that calls for stronger policies that will reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 75 per cent by 2030 and nearly eliminate all industrial methane emissions by 2035.

Details of the province’s new plan will not be released until 2023.

ghoekstra@postmedia.com

twitter.com/Gordon_hoekstra


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