Updated November 2024
In 2023, several audits and inspections were conducted to help improve industry compliance with the methane requirements. Below are some highlights of each of these initiatives.
Audits
Audits are desktop exercises that mainly review information submitted by industry through various reporting programs or direct exchanges that result from interaction with duty holders. The following table provides audit statistics for 2021 to 2023.
Audit Type | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aerial Surveillance | 75 | 1035 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Alt FEMP | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| FEMP | 5 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Fuel, Flare, Vent and Data Quality (data quality) | 11 | 98 | 124 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fugitives | 23 | 10 | 26 | 2 | 10 | 25 |
| Methane Reduction Retrofit Compliance Plan (MRRCP) | 6 | 45 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Missing OneStop Submissions | 30 | 27 | 76 | 30 | 27 | 76 |
| Overall Vent Gas Limit | 36 | 41 | 19 | 29 | 36 | 16 |
| Venting – defined vent gas and crude bitumen fleet average | N/A | 72 | 26 | N/A | 20 | 6 |
| Pneumatics* | N/A | N/A | 8 | N/A | N/A | 2 |
| Compressors* | N/A | N/A | 10 | N/A | N/A | 9 |
| Dehydrators* | N/A | N/A | 22 | N/A | N/A | 22 |
NNC = notice of noncompliance
* = new audit type for 2023
Inspections
We conducted 1231 methane inspections in 2023 (see table below). This is an 11% increase from 1111 audits in 2022. All issues leading to an unsatisfactory inspection (i.e., one where a notice of noncompliance was issued) were resolved.
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Methane Inspections | 214 | 948 | 1111 | 1231 |
| Total Number of NNCs Issued | 28 | 233 | 322 | 290 |
| Total Number of Sites With Fugitive Emissions | 123 | 308 | 279 | 253 |
NNC = notice of noncompliance
