Wood Group has launched ProGHG, a new application for onshore oil and gas producers to report greenhouse gas emissions under EPA subpart W (40 CFR 98) regulations. The solution targets gas producers with emissions greater than 25,000 metric tons of CO2 equivalent or operating more than 800 wells.
According to the Global CCS Institute, the world made ‘major strides’ in carbon capture and storage (CCS) in 2017. For fossil fuel producers, CCS is ‘the only climate mitigation technology that can rescue the trillions of dollars of fossil assets that may otherwise be stranded.’ Although more CCS facilities are operational, the current level of CCS deployment falls short of what is required from to meet the Paris ‘well below 2°C’ target. CCS uptake ‘must be accelerated.’ OTOH, since the early 1970s some 200 million tonnes of CO2 gas been securely injected into the sub-surface ‘putting paid to assertions that CCS is an experimental or untried technology.’
US secretary of energy Rick Perry recently announced $36 million for projects to ‘advance carbon capture technologies.’ Perry described carbon capture technologies as ‘one of the most effective ways we can continue to leverage the sustainability of our Nation’s fossil fuel resources while advancing environmental stewardship.’
Statoil, Vattenfall and Gasunie have signed an agreement to evaluate the possibilities of converting Vattenfall’s gas power plant Magnum in the Netherlands into a hydrogen-powered plant with a 4 Mtpa reduction of CO2 emissions. The plant is to extract hydrogen from natural gas and sequester the CO2 on the Norwegian continental shelf.
Shell has kicked-off a methane detection pilot at its Rocky Mountain House shale gas facility in Alberta. The test is part of the Methane Detectors Challenge (MDC), a partnership between the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), oil and gas companies, US government agencies and technology developers to test methane detection technologies.
Technology provider for the Shell pilot is Quanta3 whose sensing system continuously monitors methane emissions, providing Shell with real time information on the integrity and performance of their sites. Shell is also involved in the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) that sets out to ‘understand the gaps’ in methane data and detection technology. The US EPA puts current methane emission estimates (leaks) at 1.1% of total gas production in the US.
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