Alberta oil and gas sector exceeded flaring limit in 2023: AER data

A tally by The Canadian Press of Alberta Energy Regulator data shows oil and gas companies in the province flared approximately 754 million cubic metres of natural gas last year.

For the first time, Alberta’s oil and gas industry has exceeded the province’s own regulatory limit for natural gas flaring.

A tally by The Canadian Press of Alberta Energy Regulator data shows oil and gas companies in the province flared approximately 754 million cubic metres of natural gas last year, exceeding the annual provincial limit of 670 million cubic metres.

Flaring refers to the practice of burning off the excess natural gas associated with oil production. Though it is better for the environment than some other methods of gas disposal, it still releases harmful substances into the atmosphere.

The AER declined to comment on the findings, referring questions about possible penalties or other actions to the provincial government instead. But a 2022 report by the regulator on oil and gas emissions shows flaring volumes in Alberta have been increasing since 2016 and nudged close to the regulatory limit in 2022.

In that report, the AER said it “expects flaring to continue to increase” in the future, even as the regulations themselves aim to have the oil and gas sector “continue to reduce” the volume of flare gas released.

Natural gas is a byproduct that comes to the surface when companies drill oil wells. If the volumes of gas are small, and there are no pipelines nearby to transport the gas, companies often choose for economic reasons to dispose of it through flaring.

Flaring can also occur for safety reasons, to reduce sudden pressure increases at well sites.

Flaring volumes have been rising in part due to growing oil output in Alberta. But companies have also been turning increasingly to flaring in order to reduce venting, a term that refers to the direct release of unburned methane into the atmosphere from an oil or gas facility.