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Reducing Methane Emissions in Oil and Gas Production

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Kind: captions
Language: en

00:00:01.669
my name is Philip Swanson and I'm
00:00:04.130 00:00:04.140 passionate about the environment I'm the
00:00:06.050 00:00:06.060 administrator of the CCAC oil and gas
00:00:09.140 00:00:09.150 methane partnership burning natural gas
00:00:12.249 00:00:12.259 produces much less carbon dioxide than
00:00:14.720 00:00:14.730 burning oil or coal along the way to the
00:00:17.510 00:00:17.520 burner however some gas escapes gas is
00:00:21.410 00:00:21.420 mainly methane and gram for gram methane
00:00:23.990 00:00:24.000 is over 80 times more potent in the
00:00:25.880 00:00:25.890 atmosphere than carbon dioxide over 20
00:00:28.009 00:00:28.019 year time horizon methane is invisible
00:00:31.339 00:00:31.349 to the naked eye but it can be seen with
00:00:33.860 00:00:33.870 a special kind of infrared camera called
00:00:35.810 00:00:35.820 an optical gas imaging camera in order
00:00:38.840 00:00:38.850 for gas to be widely accepted as more
00:00:40.790 00:00:40.800 climate-friendly than coal companies
00:00:43.369 00:00:43.379 producing processing and transporting
00:00:45.650 00:00:45.660 gas need to ensure that methane leaks
00:00:47.810 00:00:47.820 are kept to a minimum
00:00:49.569 00:00:49.579 unfortunately the oil and gas sector is
00:00:52.069 00:00:52.079 generally considered to be the largest
00:00:53.630 00:00:53.640 man-made emitter of methane after
00:00:55.220 00:00:55.230 agriculture there are potentially
00:00:57.110 00:00:57.120 thousands of points in a field or plant
00:00:59.270 00:00:59.280 where emissions could occur one recent
00:01:02.569 00:01:02.579 study suggests that worldwide about 3
00:01:04.670 00:01:04.680 percent of produced gas was emitted to
00:01:06.530 00:01:06.540 the atmosphere in 2012 that's equivalent
00:01:09.320 00:01:09.330 to the production Norway that year the
00:01:12.350 00:01:12.360 International Energy Agency identified
00:01:14.300 00:01:14.310 reducing upstream emissions as one of
00:01:17.020 00:01:17.030 five key climate policy priorities in
00:01:20.719 00:01:20.729 the energy sector if we want to limit
00:01:22.370 00:01:22.380 the earth's temperature rise to less
00:01:23.899 00:01:23.909 than 2 degrees Celsius above
00:01:25.399 00:01:25.409 pre-industrial levels gases emitted at
00:01:29.300 00:01:29.310 different points in the chain from oil
00:01:31.969 00:01:31.979 and gas production through gas
00:01:33.590 00:01:33.600 processing pipeline transportation some
00:01:37.910 00:01:37.920 emissions are leaks others are part of
00:01:40.370 00:01:40.380 the way equipment is designed to operate
00:01:42.170 00:01:42.180 some equipment and operating procedures
00:01:44.179 00:01:44.189 are more climate-friendly than others
00:01:46.120 00:01:46.130 the few measurement studies that have
00:01:49.069 00:01:49.079 been done in the sector mostly a focused
00:01:52.130 00:01:52.140 on the United States and these have
00:01:54.319 00:01:54.329 shown wide variations across regions and
00:01:56.840 00:01:56.850 even within the same company the studies
00:01:59.630 00:01:59.640 also show that as small share of
00:02:01.330 00:02:01.340 facilities can account for a large share
00:02:03.740 00:02:03.750 of total emissions and within those
00:02:07.429 00:02:07.439 facilities a small share of sources can
00:02:09.529 00:02:09.539 account for the bulk of the problem the
00:02:12.020 00:02:12.030 difficulty is finding the right
00:02:13.729 00:02:13.739 and the right sources at those
00:02:15.679 00:02:15.689 facilities the CCAC oil and gas methane
00:02:19.250 00:02:19.260 partnership was designed after a
00:02:20.839 00:02:20.849 year-and-a-half of consultations with
00:02:22.699 00:02:22.709 industry NGOs and investors we came to
00:02:25.759 00:02:25.769 the conclusion that in order for
00:02:27.319 00:02:27.329 companies to ensure that there are
00:02:29.390 00:02:29.400 detecting the main emissions they need
00:02:30.890 00:02:30.900 to survey their operations in a
00:02:32.839 00:02:32.849 systematic manner the initiative was
00:02:36.080 00:02:36.090 designed to provide companies a
00:02:37.520 00:02:37.530 systematic approach for detecting and
00:02:39.770 00:02:39.780 addressing their methane emissions and
00:02:41.690 00:02:41.700 just as importantly provide them with a
00:02:44.089 00:02:44.099 mechanism to demonstrate this to
00:02:46.099 00:02:46.109 stakeholders this is done through the
00:02:48.140 00:02:48.150 public reporting requirement the last
00:02:50.539 00:02:50.549 point is important some companies they
00:02:52.550 00:02:52.560 feel that they have the problem under
00:02:54.440 00:02:54.450 control but they're looking for a way to
00:02:56.390 00:02:56.400 demonstrate this in a credible manner
00:02:58.509 00:02:58.519 many international jurisdictions
00:03:01.039 00:03:01.049 currently have very weak regulatory and
00:03:03.649 00:03:03.659 enforcement capacity so a voluntary
00:03:06.080 00:03:06.090 initiative is a way to reach these
00:03:07.759 00:03:07.769 jurisdictions for now the initiative
00:03:11.209 00:03:11.219 focuses on nine core emission sources
00:03:14.360 00:03:14.370 these are the ones that have been found
00:03:16.369 00:03:16.379 to account for a large portion of
00:03:18.080 00:03:18.090 methane emissions and typical upstream
00:03:20.149 00:03:20.159 oil and gas operations in a nutshell
00:03:22.640 00:03:22.650 this initiative is about surveying for
00:03:25.699 00:03:25.709 and addressing these nine core sources
00:03:28.129 00:03:28.139 and reporting on the results the good
00:03:31.159 00:03:31.169 news is that mitigation projects usually
00:03:33.649 00:03:33.659 have relatively low upfront costs and
00:03:36.349 00:03:36.359 quick payback periods these are some of
00:03:38.750 00:03:38.760 the most cost effective greenhouse gas
00:03:40.759 00:03:40.769 reduction projects you can do in this
00:03:42.379 00:03:42.389 sector but you need to find the
00:03:44.509 00:03:44.519 emissions first and to do that you need
00:03:46.999 00:03:47.009 to survey your operations using a
00:03:49.129 00:03:49.139 systematic approach and you need to
00:03:52.490 00:03:52.500 assure your stakeholders that this is
00:03:54.229 00:03:54.239 what you're doing the CCAC oil and gas
00:03:57.050 00:03:57.060 methane partnership offers companies a
00:03:59.479 00:03:59.489 way to do this it's good for business
00:04:02.179 00:04:02.189 and it's good for the environment
00:04:04.500 00:04:04.510 you

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