Introduction

In today’s age of climate change, the Canadian oil and gas industry has become vilified in mainstream media with many critics claiming oil and gas companies are solely motivated to maximize profits without a concern for the environment. Many claim that the sector continues to deny and shun the ongoing climate change crisis; the oil and gas sector acknowledges the issue at hand and industry players have been pursuing initiatives in technological development and innovation to tackle their impact on the environment. This article highlights the various initiatives by Canadian oil and gas companies to reduce their environmental footprint.

A Look at Energy Innovation in the Past 

Innovation in the Canadian oil and gas industry has been continuously evident over the course of history. When faced with challenges, the industry has time and time again successfully overcome challenges using technology and innovation.

Some examples include:

Tackling the climate change issue is no different. Industry players understand that technology and innovation play a pivotal role in overcoming this global issue.

Setting the Bar

Canadian oil and gas companies continue to set the bar high environmentally. Some of Canada’s largest oil and gas producers have committed to the following climate pledges:

Oil Sands Innovation

Companies operating within Canada’s oil sands constantly focus on technological innovation to increase efficiency, reduce operating costs and optimize environmental performance. Some examples of oil sands innovation that tackle GHG emissions are highlighted below:

1. Carbon capturing & storage (CCS) and carbon capturing, utilization and storage (CCUS)

Instead of releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, CCS stores CO2 underground in deep, porous rock formations. Industrial CO2 produced is compressed into fluid form before being transported by pipeline to a site where it is injected underground for permanent storage. CCUS encompasses recycling industrial CO2 for utilization in other industrial applications, such as upstream production, cement production and fertilizer manufacturing.

Canada’s CCS and CCUS technology is world-leading, as demonstrated by several projects highlighted below:

2. Advanced oil sands recovery technologies

A large amount of steam is required to dilute bitumen for production. Oil sands recovery technological development intends to reduce the amount of steam required for in-situ bitumen recovery. Reducing steam consumption decreases the amount of natural gas burned to create steam, in turn reducing GHG emissions.

Steam reduction can be achieved in several ways including light hydrocarbon injection and heating bitumen underground using electromagnetic waves. Depending on the quantity of light hydrocarbon, the viscosity of bitumen can be substantially decreased to reduce the steam required. In addition, electromagnetic heating specifically targets parts of the reservoir instead of heating the entire reservoir, thus increasing heact efficiency and minimizing heat loss. The illustration below highlights the electromagnetic heating technology implemented at Suncor’s Dover oil sands project:

Enhanced Solvent Extraction Incorporating Electromagnetic Heating (ESEIEH)

Other Recent Innovation Initiatives to Reduce GHG Emissions

Conclusion

The war against climate change cannot be won overnight. Shutting down all oil and gas operations in favour of renewable energy today is currently unrealistic and unfeasible (see our Moving Away from Fossil Fuels article for more). Canadian oil and gas companies continue to demonstrate resilience in navigating through a low commodity price environment while tackling climate change. To comment that these companies are only focused on short term profits is misleading. Company executives within the industry believe that companies who fail to adapt to the low carbon future will face carbon related risks, while those that act today will position themselves for long term business resilience.

The future success of Canada’s oil and gas industry depends on its ability to develop and deploy new technology that can reduce environmental impacts while improving performance. Based on the initiatives highlight above, it looks like we are on the right track.