Regulations Respecting Reduction in the Release of Methane and Certain Volatile Organic Compounds (Upstream Oil and Gas Sector) (SOR/2018-66)

Marginal note:Records — conservation equipment

6 A record in respect of any hydrocarbon gas conservation equipment used at an upstream oil and gas facility must be made that indicates

• (a) for each month during which the equipment is used, the percentage, at any given moment, of the hydrocarbon gas routed to the equipment that is captured and conserved, along with a calculation of the volumetric flow rates on which that percentage is based, with supporting documents; and

• (b) how the equipment was operated and maintained, along with an indication of any recommendations of its manufacturer for its operation and maintenance, with supporting documents.

Marginal note:Conserved gas — use

7 Hydrocarbon gas that has been captured and conserved in hydrocarbon gas conservation equipment must be conserved until it is

• (a) used at the facility as fuel in a combustion device that releases at most 5% of the combusted hydrocarbon gas to the atmosphere as hydrocarbon gas;

• (b) delivered; or

• (c) injected into an underground geological deposit for a purpose other than to dispose of the gas as waste.

Marginal note:Records — conserved gas used as fuel

8 A record in respect of any hydrocarbon gas that is combusted as fuel in a combustion device referred to in paragraph 7(a) must be made that indicates for each month during which the device is used, the percentage, at any given moment, of the combusted hydrocarbon gas that is released as hydrocarbon gas, with supporting documents, based on

• (a) tests conducted when the device operates under conditions recommended by the manufacturer for determining this percentage; or

• (b) measurements taken when the device operates under those conditions.

Marginal note:Hydrocarbon gas destruction equipment

9 Hydrocarbon gas destruction equipment that is used at an upstream oil and gas facility must satisfy the requirements related to the destruction of hydrocarbon gas set out in

• (a) Sections 3.6 and 7 of Version 4.5 of the guideline entitled Flaring and Venting Reduction Guideline, published by the Oil and Gas Commission of British Columbia in June 2016, if the facility is located in British Columbia;

• (b) section 3 of the directive entitled Directive S-20: Saskatchewan Upstream Flaring and Incineration Requirements, published by the Government of Saskatchewan on November 1, 2015, if the facility is located in Manitoba or Saskatchewan; and

• (c) sections 3.6 and 7 of the directive entitled Directive 060: Upstream Petroleum Industry Flaring, Incinerating, and Venting, published by the Alberta Energy Regulator on March 22, 2016, in any other case.

Marginal note:Records — hydrocarbon gas destruction equipment

10 A record in respect of any hydrocarbon gas destruction equipment used at an upstream oil and gas facility must be made that demonstrates, with supporting documents, that the requirements related to the destruction of hydrocarbon gas set out in the applicable document referred to in section 9 are satisfied.

Well Completion involving Hydraulic Fracturing

Marginal note:Application

• 11 (1) This section applies in respect of an upstream oil and gas facility that includes a well that undergoes hydraulic fracturing and whose production has a gas-to-oil ratio of at least 53:1, based on the most recent determination of the gas-to-oil ratio prior to the hydraulic fracturing.

• Marginal note:No venting

  (2) Hydrocarbon gas associated with flowback at a well at an upstream oil and gas facility must not be vented during flowback but must instead be captured and routed to hydrocarbon gas conservation equipment or hydrocarbon gas destruction equipment.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) Subsection (2) does not apply if all the gas associated with flowback at the well does not have sufficient heating value to sustain combustion.

Marginal note:Records — hydraulic fracturing

12 A record in respect of each well at an upstream oil and gas facility that undergoes hydraulic fracturing must be made

• (a) that indicates the gas-to-oil ratio, based on the most recent determination of the gas-to-oil ratio prior to the hydraulic fracturing;

• (b) if that gas-to-oil ratio is at least 53:1, that demonstrates, with supporting documents, that the hydrocarbon gas associated with flowback was captured and routed to hydrocarbon gas conservation equipment or hydrocarbon gas destruction equipment; and

• (c) if hydrocarbon gas associated with flowback at the well is vented, the heating value of that gas.

Marginal note:Non-application — British Columbia and Alberta

13 Sections 11 and 12 do not apply in respect of an upstream oil and gas facility that is located in

• (a) British Columbia, if the facility is subject to the requirements with respect to well completion involving hydraulic fracturing that are set out in the guideline entitled Flaring and Venting Reduction Guideline, published by the Oil and Gas Commission of British Columbia in June 2016; and

• (b) Alberta, if the facility is subject to the requirements with respect to well completion involving hydraulic fracturing that are set out in the directive entitled Directive 060: Upstream Petroleum Industry Flaring, Incinerating, and Venting, published by the Alberta Energy Regulator on March 22, 2016.

Compressors

Marginal note:Capture or venting of emissions

14 The emissions of hydrocarbon gas from the seals of a centrifugal compressor, or from the rod packings and distance pieces of a reciprocating compressor, that has a rated brake power of 75 kW or more at an upstream oil and gas facility must be

• (a) captured and routed to hydrocarbon gas conservation equipment or hydrocarbon gas destruction equipment; or

• (b) routed to vents that release those emissions to the atmosphere.

Marginal note:Measurement of flow rate

15 The flow rate of emissions of hydrocarbon gas released from the vents referred to in paragraph 14(b) of a compressor must be measured by means of

• (a) a flow meter, other than a calibrated bag, in accordance with section 16; or

• (b) a continuous monitoring device in accordance with section 17.

Marginal note:Flow meters

• 16 (1) The flow meter must be calibrated in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations such that its measurements have a maximum margin of error of ±10%.

• Marginal note:Measurements by flow meters

  (2) Those measurements must be made

  • (a) in accordance with the recommendations set out in the manufacturer’s manual, if any;

  • (b) in the case of a measurement made without the use of negative pressure or a vacuum, while there is a tight seal over the vent;

  • (c) in the case of a measurement on a centrifugal compressor, when the compressor is operating under conditions that are representative of the conditions during the previous seven days; and

  • (d) in the case of a measurement on a reciprocating compressor, when the compressor is pressurized.

• Marginal note:Initial and subsequent measurements

  (3) The flow rate must be measured within the following periods:

  • (a) initially, the period that ends on

    • (i) January 1, 2021, if the compressor is installed at the facility before January 1, 2020, and

    • (ii) the 365th day after the day on which the compressor was installed at the facility, in any other case; and

  • (b) subsequently, the period that ends on the 365th day after the day on which a previous measurement was taken.

• Marginal note:Measurements — maximum or average

  (4) The initial and each subsequent measurement of the flow rate must be based on measurements made by the flow meter over a continuous period of at least five minutes and is

  • (a) the maximum of the flow rates measured, if the measurements are made over a continuous period of at least five minutes and less than 15 minutes; or

  • (b) the average of the flow rates measured, if the measurements are made over a continuous period of at least 15 minutes.

• Marginal note:Extension — not operating or not pressurized

  (5) Despite subsection (3), if no measurement has been made by the last day of a period referred to in that subsection — but, on that day, the compressor is not operating, in the case of a centrifugal compressor, or the compressor is not pressurized, in the case of a reciprocating compressor — the measurement must be made under that subsection on or before the 30th day after the day on which the compressor is next operating or pressurized, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Extension — pressurized for < 1,314 hours per 3 years

  (6) Despite subsection (3), a period referred to in that subsection is extended by 365 days if the operator for the facility makes a record that demonstrates that, during the three calendar years immediately before the end of the period, the compressor was pressurized for less than 1,314 hours, as determined by an hour meter or as recorded in a log of operations.

Marginal note:Continuous monitoring devices

17 A continuous monitoring device must

• (a) be calibrated in accordance with the recommendations of the manufacturer of the device such that its measurements have a maximum margin of error of ±10%;

• (b) be operated continuously, other than during periods when it is undergoing normal servicing or timely repairs; and

• (c) be equipped with an alarm that is triggered when the applicable flow rate limit referred to in subsection 18(2) or (3) for the vents of the compressor is reached.

Marginal note:Corrective action

• 18 (1) If the flow rate of emissions of hydrocarbon gas released from vents referred to in paragraph 14(b) of a compressor, measured in accordance with subsection 16(2), is greater than the applicable flow rate limit set out in subsection (2) or (3) or if the alarm referred to in paragraph 17(c) is triggered, corrective action must be taken to reduce that flow rate to below or equal to that limit, as demonstrated by a remeasurement that results,

  • (a) when a flow meter is used for the remeasurement, in a reading that is below or equal to that limit; or

  • (b) when a continuous monitoring device is used for the remeasurement, in the absence of an alarm when the compressor resumes operation following the taking of the corrective action.

• Marginal note:Flow rate limit — centrifugal compressors

  (2) For emissions that are from the seals of a centrifugal compressor, the flow rate limit is

  • (a) if the compressor is installed on or after January 1, 2023, 0.14 standard m³/min; and

  • (b) if the compressor is installed before January 1, 2023 and has a rated brake power of

    • (i) greater than or equal to 5 MW, 0.68 standard m³/min, and

    • (ii) less than 5 MW, 0.34 standard m³/min.

• Marginal note:Flow rate limit — reciprocating compressors

  (3) For emissions that are from the rod packings and distance pieces of a reciprocating compressor, the flow rate limit is

  • (a) if the compressor is installed on or after January 1, 2023, the product of 0.001 standard m³/min and the number of pressurized cylinders that the compressor has; and

  • (b) if the compressor is installed before January 1, 2023, the product of 0.023 standard m³/min and the number of those pressurized cylinders.

• Marginal note:Remeasurement

  (4) The remeasurement referred to in paragraph (1)(a) or (b) must be taken in accordance with section 15 on or before the later of

  • (a) the 90th day after the day on which, as the case may be, the most recent measurement is taken under subsection 16(3) or the alarm referred to in paragraph 17(c) is triggered, and

  • (b) if the estimated volume of hydrocarbon gas, expressed in standard m³, that would, beginning from the day on which the applicable day described in paragraph (a), be emitted until that next planned shutdown if no corrective action were taken is equal to or less than the volume of hydrocarbon gas, expressed in standard m³, that would be emitted due to the purging of hydrocarbon gas in order to take the corrective action,

    • (i) the day on which the compressor begins to operate after the next planned shutdown, in the case of a centrifugal compressor, and

    • (ii) the day on which the compressor is first pressurized after the next planned shutdown, in the case of a reciprocating compressor.

• Marginal note:Estimated volume

  (5) The estimated volume of hydrocarbon gas must be based on the most recent flow rate of emissions of hydrocarbon gas released from vents referred to in paragraph 14(b) of the compressor, as determined by a flow meter or a continuous monitoring system in accordance with section 15.