Saskatchewan Advances Methane Reductions
The Canadian province of Saskatchewan said January 26 it would provide financial support for three projects that will reduce methane emissions, increase natural gas processing and create jobs.
Funding will come from two provincial initiatives, the Saskatchewan Petroleum Innovation Incentive (SPII) and the Oil and Gas Processing Investment Incentive (OGPII), which provide a certain level of transferable royalty credits once private funding has been dedicated and facilities built.
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“These projects, including one that’s first of its kind in the province, are already creating jobs,” the province’s energy and resources minister, Bronwyn Eyre, said. “They support Saskatchewan’s economic recovery and the environment at the same time, by capturing and commercialising methane, rather than venting or flaring it.”
Highrock Resources and Verdera Energy, its joint venture partner, have been conditionally approved for funding under SPII for a new C$1.5mn (US$1.2mn) project that will repurpose a jet engine turbine to generate power from associated gas previously flared at an oil battery. It is expected to be operational in the winter of 2021.
Calgary-based midstream operator Steel Reef has been conditionally approved under the OGPII program for a project to expand its gas processing capabilities to include associated gas production. The project has already created 50 construction jobs.
Finally, Ridgeback Resources has earned conditional approval under OGPII that will support a C$12mn fractionation project that will process methane gas that would otherwise have been flared or vented to recover natural gas liquids and separate those liquids into propane and butane for sale in the province.
Combined, the three projects are expected to reduce Saskatchewan’s methane emissions by up to 251,000 mtCO2-equivalent/year, equivalent to the annual emissions from the energy used in 28,000 homes.