Canada’s oil and natural gas industry is aiming for a lower-carbon future  through innovation and new technology. A newly released report is said to lay out the means to a lower-carbon future and is meant to illustrate the industry’s record of lowering emissions-intensity.

According to the report, from 2011 to 2019, combined natural gas, condensate, and natural gas liquids production increased 32 per cent while emissions intensity decreased by 33 per cent.

As a result of flaring conservation practices, Canada ranks among the lowest-emission natural gas producers globally.

The report says, while production from Oil Sands In Situ facilities grew by 66 per cent from 2013 to 2019, emissions intensity dropped by 8 per cent.

From 2013 to 2019 oil sands mining production increased 59 per cent as emissions intensity decreased by 14 per cent.

The industry says it has has technological advances that are  making a difference now and continue to be developed to improve performance in the future.

It gives as examples:

• Methane Reduction – Industry is working to reduce methane emissions to meet Canada’s goal of a 45 per cent reduction from 2012 levels by 2025. Among the world’s top 10 petroleum exporters, Canada alone has a methane reduction target. Industry is working with the Alberta government on the Alberta Methane Field Challenge which is testing new methane detection technologies including sensors on drones and trucks.
• Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage – Facilities are already showing how CO2 can be captured and stored or used in the production process, keeping millions of tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
• Cogeneration – Upstream producers can use waste heat to generate electricity. In the oil sands, excess electricity not used for plant operations is sold to Alberta’s power grid. Cogeneration supplies about 34 per cent of the province’s electricity