Energy sector is at the cusp of a transformation

But emissions are a big issue, Robin Archdekin writes.

There’s a lot more work that needs to be done to reduce the energy sector’s carbon footprint.

By any measure, 2017 is shaping up to be a watershed year for B.C.’s oil and gas industry. The provincial government’s green light of Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion, the granting of conditional approval of the $36-billion Pacific North-West liquefied natural gas megaproject, along with Singapore-based RGE Pte. Ltd.’s decision to move ahead with the $1.6-billion Woodfibre LNG plant in Squamish have made this a key moment for B.C.’s energy sector.

These projects are expected to attract hundreds of millions of dollars of investment to B.C. in the form of infrastructure projects, drilling, natural gas wells, pipelines and processing plants. Woodfibre LNG, which is expected to be the first major energy project off the ground in 2017, will create 650 jobs during construction and about 100 full-time jobs during operation. It will also generate an estimated $83.7 million in tax revenue for various levels of government during the construction phase and $86.5 million in tax revenue per year of operation.

B.C. has a long history of natural gas development, dating to 1948, when natural gas was first commercially produced in Pouce Coupe. Today, B.C. is Canada’s second-largest natural gas producer, accounting for billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs. The province’s largest gas reserves, the Horn River and Montney gas basins in northeastern B.C., are estimated to contain up to 349 trillion cubic feet of ultimate potential for marketable natural-gas resources, enough to last 300-plus years at current demand levels.

Bringing these vast reserves into production in an economic, environmental and socially responsible manner requires that First Nations, local communities, governments and the resource sector work closely together to find innovative solutions to minimize greenhouse-gas emissions.

To this end, the B.C. government has, in its updated climate leadership plan, set its sights on curbing fugitive gas emissions from the natural gas supply chain. It’s estimated almost 40 per cent of these natural gas emissions come from non-combustible sources such as venting and leaks. The B.C. government has committed to a 45 per cent reduction in fugitive and vented emissions by 2025 for infrastructure built before 2015.

One of the major challenges in the quest to cut these emissions is the question of how to accurately monitor and measure the extent of the problem.

Geoscience B.C., with the support of the B.C. Oil and Gas Research and Innovation Society, recently embarked on the first project of its kind to sample and profile natural gas from producing wells in the northeastern part of the province. This initiative will help producers target higher-value gas streams and pinpoint fugitive gas emissions leaking from gas wells, processing facilities, pipelines and storage facilities, aiding remediation efforts and helping to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Natural gas profiles will be incorporated into the B.C. Natural Gas Atlas, which will be publicly available in 2018.

The B.C. Natural Gas Atlas will create, for the first time, a comprehensive picture of the types of distributions of natural gas deposits in the province. The project will help researchers systematically catalogue the geochemical fingerprints of natural gas reserves, enabling them to trace the source of fugitive gas emissions back to the gas pool or field they originated from to expedite remediation efforts. It will also enable researchers to differentiate between gases produced from natural sources and those related to industrial activity.

Natural gas production emits just under six per cent of Canada’s total greenhouse-gas emissions and only 0.1 per cent of global emissions. Still, there’s a lot more work that needs to be done to reduce the energy sector’s carbon footprint. Through a commitment to innovation, B.C. can play a leading role in demonstrating how natural gas resources can be developed responsibly to protect the environment and provide economic and social benefits for all British Columbians.