Methane Venting at Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand (CHOPS) Facilities Is Significantly Underreported and Led by High-Emitting Wells with Low or Negative Value.

Cold Heavy Oil Production with or without Sand, CHOP(S), facilities produce a significant portion of Canada's conventional oil. Methane venting from single-well CHOPS facilities in Saskatchewan, Canada was measured (i) using Bridger Photonics' airborne Gas Mapping LiDAR (GML) at 962 sites and (ii) on-site using an optical mass flux meter (VentX), ultrasonic flow meter, and QOGI camera at 11 sites. The strong correlation between ground measurements and airborne GML supported subsequent detailed analysis of the aerial data and to our knowledge is the first study to directly test the ability of airplane surveys to accurately reproduce mean emission rates of unsteady sources. Actual methane venting was found to be nearly four times greater than the industry-reported levels used in emission inventories, with ∼80% of all emissions attributed to casing gas venting. Further analysis of site-total emissions revealed potential gaps in regulations, with 14% of sites appearing to exceed regulated limits while accounting for 61% of measured methane emissions. Finally, the concept of marginal wells was adapted to consider the inferred cost of methane emissions under current carbon pricing. Results suggest that almost a third of all methane is emitted from environmentally marginal wells, where the inferred methane cost negates the value of the oil produced. Overall, the present results illustrate the importance of independent monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) to ensure accuracy in reporting and regulatory compliance, and to ensure mitigation targets are not foiled by a collection of disproportionately high-emitting sites.

Reduction of Signal Drift in a Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy-Based Methane Flux Sensor.

Accurately quantifying unsteady methane venting from key oil and gas sector sources such as storage tanks and well casing vents is a critical challenge. Recently, we presented an optical sensor to meet this need that combines volume fraction and Doppler shift measurements using wavelength modulation spectroscopy with 2f harmonic detection to quantify mass flux of methane through a vent line. This paper extends the previous effort through a methodical component-by-component investigation of potential sources of thermally-induced measurement drift to guide the design of an updated sensor. Test data were analyzed using an innovative signal processing technique that permitted quantification of background wavelength modulation spectroscopy signal drift linked to specific components, and the results were successfully used to design a drift-resistant sensor. In the updated sensor, background signal strength was reduced, and stability improved, such that the empirical methane-fraction dependent velocity correction necessary in the original sensor was no longer required. The revised sensor improves previously reported measurement uncertainties on flow velocity from 0.15 to 0.10 m/s, while markedly reducing thermally-induced velocity drift from 0.44 m/s/K to 0.015 m/s/K. In the most general and challenging application, where both flow velocity and methane fraction are independently varying, the updated design reduces the methane mass flow rate uncertainty by more than a factor of six, from ±2.55 kg/h to ±0.40 kg/h. This new design also maintains the intrinsic safety of the original sensor and is ideally suited for unsteady methane vent measurements within hazardous locations typical of oil and gas facilities.

A Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy-Based Methane Flux Sensor for Quantification of Venting Sources at Oil and Gas Sites.

An optical sensor employing tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy with wavelength modulation and 2f harmonic detection was designed, prototyped, and tested for applications in quantifying methane emissions from vent sources in the oil and gas sector. The methane absorption line at 6026.23 cm−1 (1659.41 nm) was used to measure both flow velocity and methane volume fraction, enabling direct measurement of the methane emission rate. Two configurations of the sensor were designed, tested, and compared; the first used a fully fiber-coupled cell with multimode fibers to re-collimate the laser beams, while the second used directly irradiated photodetectors protected by Zener barriers. Importantly, both configurations were designed to enable measurements within regulated Class I / Zone 0 hazardous locations, in which explosive gases are expected during normal operations. Controlled flows with methane volume fractions of 0 to 100% and a velocity range of 0 to 4 m/s were used to characterize sensor performance at a 1 Hz sampling rate. The measurement error in the methane volume fraction was less than 10,000 ppm (1%) across the studied range for both configurations. The short-term velocity measurement error with pure methane was <0.3 m/s with a standard deviation of 0.14 m/s for the fiber-coupled configuration and <0.15 m/s with a standard deviation of 0.07 m/s for the directly irradiated detector configuration. However, modal noise in the multimode fibers of the first configuration contributed to an unstable performance that was highly sensitive to mechanical disturbances. The second configuration showed good potential for an industrial sensor, successfully quantifying methane flow rates up to 11 kg/h within ±2.1 kg/h at 95% confidence over a range of methane fractions from 25−100%, and as low as ±0.85 kg/h in scenarios where the source methane fraction is initially unknown within this range and otherwise invariant.

Catalytic Heaters at Oil and Gas Sites May be a Significant yet Overlooked Seasonal Source of Methane Emissions.

Successful reduction of oil and gas sector methane emissions to meet near-zero intensity targets requires the identification and mitigation of all possible sources. One potentially important source is catalytic heaters, which have largely escaped attention in regulatory and mitigation efforts despite being ubiquitous at upstream production sites in cold climate regions. This study reports direct in situ measurements of the exhaust streams of 38 natural gas-fired catalytic heaters at upstream production sites in British Columbia, Canada. All heaters in the sample showed consistently poor methane conversion with mean destruction efficiencies of 61 ± 5% while releasing 235 [+31/-28] g of methane per cubic meter of fuel. Although individual units are generally small methane sources (mean of 0.28 ± 0.04 kg/h), their prevalence means they could represent 6% of the total provincial upstream methane inventory and as an aggregate methane source could be 5× more significant than abandoned wells. Notably, these heaters are seasonal sources whose emissions would be missed in measurement campaigns occurring solely in summer months. However, additional measurements from a small number of heat medium burners demonstrate that, where feasible, methane emissions can be reduced by approximately 425× by replacing catalytic heaters with centralized heat systems.

Development of a Sub-ppb Resolution Methane Sensor Using a GaSb-Based DFB Diode Laser near 3270 nm for Fugitive Emission Measurement.

A challenge for mobile measurement of fugitive methane emissions is the availability of portable sensors that feature high sensitivity and fast response times, simultaneously. A methane gas sensor to measure fugitive emissions was developed using a continuous-wave, thermoelectrically cooled, GaSb-based distributed feedback diode laser emitting at a wavelength of 3.27 µm to probe methane in its strong ν3 vibrational band. Direct absorption spectra (DAS) as well as wavelength-modulated spectra (WMS) of pressure-broadened R(3) manifold lines of methane were recorded through a custom-developed open-path multipass cell with an effective optical path length of 6.8 m. A novel metrological approach was taken to characterize the sensor response in terms of the linearity of different WMS metrics, namely, the peak-to-peak amplitude of the X2f component and the peak and/or the integrated area of the background-subtracted quadrature signal (i.e., Q(2f - 2f0)) and the background-subtracted 1f-normalized quadrature signal (i.e., Q(2f/1f - 2f0/1f0)). Comparison with calibration gas concentrations spanning 1.5 to 40 ppmv indicated that the latter WMS metric showed the most linear response, while fitting DAS provides a traceable reference. In the WMS mode, a sensitivity better than 1 ppbv was achieved at a 1 s integration time. The sensitivity and response time are well-suited to measure enhancements in ambient methane levels caused by fugitive emissions.