Flare performance – near-term actions to reduce GHGs
Across our operations, our goal is to reduce flaring through improved operating practices and the installation of new equipment. Reducing flaring helps prevent the loss of energy and decreases GHG emissions and air emissions.
Solution gas refers to the natural gas that is produced in association with crude oil and bitumen in Upstream operations. Solution gas is often flared or vented during production. Imperial has taken steps to conserve solution gas and, in 2010, recovered 99.9 percent of the solution gas produced. This was the highest rate of recovery among the top 50 oil producers in Alberta.
Our approach
In the Upstream and Downstream, flaring can also occur when gases cause excess pressure to build up within our process equipment, especially during facility maintenance or an unexpected operating event. While in both these cases flaring serves as a safety precaution and a waste outlet, we try to keep flaring to a minimum.
In 2010, total hydrocarbon flare volumes across the Upstream production facilities were higher than 2009 levels. This was primarily due to increased exploration well testing in the Horn River Basin, where there is no existing production infrastructure. We expect flare volumes to gradually decrease, starting in 2011, as shale gas production comes on stream.
At our Downstream and Chemical manufacturing sites, hydrocarbon flaring totalled 32,000 tonnes, down 38 percent from 2009 levels. This was a result of step change improvements at two manufacturing sites, improved controls at the source and less fuel gas flaring.
Concentrated efforts at the refineries to improve plant reliability and reduce unplanned outages are expected to further reduce flare emissions. In addition, the sites continue to implement equipment and procedural best practices to minimize flaring. For example, Nanticoke began a program in 2008 to minimize flaring that resulted in a 70 per cent reduction in flaring in 2010 compared to 2009.
Dartmouth refinery incorporated flaring best practices during its 2010 maintenance turnaround to further reduce flaring while ongoing initiatives have paid off with a 13 percent reduction on an absolute basis.