Many things contribute to climate change, including emissions from oil and gas operations. We collaborated with the Government of Alberta (GoA) to protect our environment by reducing methane emissions.
In 2015, the GoA directed us to develop requirements to reduce methane emissions from upstream oil and gas operations by 45% (relative to 2014 levels) by 2025. In 2020, the GoA directed us to amend the methane regulations released on December 13, 2018.
What is Methane?
Methane is a colourless, odourless, flammable greenhouse gas. It is the main constituent of natural gas. The global warming potential of methane is significant—it is estimated to be 25 times greater than that of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period.
In Alberta, the oil and gas industry is the largest source of methane emissions—in 2014 it accounted for about 70% of the province’s methane emissions.
Approach to Methane Reduction
Alongside the GoA, we held multistakeholder committee meetings to develop options for the methane reduction requirements to meet the GoA’s goal. The committees had representatives from environmental nongovernment organizations, the oil and gas industry, and technology groups. While we authored new requirements, the GoA played a key role by setting the policy direction.
Consequently, we developed requirements in Directive 060: Upstream Petroleum Industry Flaring, Incinerating, and Venting and Directive 017: Measurement Requirements for Oil and Gas Operations. These draft requirements were released for public comment in April 2018. In December 2018, we released the finalized requirements.
The methane reduction requirements in Directive 060 went into effect on January 1, 2020, while the requirements in Directive 017 went into effect immediately upon the directive’s release in December 2018. Both directives have been subsequently revised.
The requirements address the primary sources of methane emissions from Alberta’s upstream oil and gas industry: fugitive emissions and venting, which includes emissions from compressors, pneumatic devices, and glycol dehydrators. The requirements also focus on improved measurement, monitoring, and reporting of methane emissions.
Companies may request an alternative fugitive emissions management program (alt-FEMP) that deviates from the technologies and processes outlined in Directive 060. We developed an Alt-FEMP checklist to guide industry on these requests.
Timeline of Directive 017 and 060 Revisions
* This graphic is for illustrative purposes and may not accurately reflect references in the current editions of these directives.
Related Information
We publish methane data on our Methane Performance webpages, including
- methane emissions by facility type, production type, or area,
- summary information on our alternative Fugitive Emissions Management Program (FEMP), and
- measures to improve industry methane performance.
This is part of our industry performance program, which measures, evaluates, and reports on the energy development activities that we regulate.
