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Oilsands greenhouse gas emissions up in 2009
News Articles Featured | Montreal Gazette | June 03, 2011
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After days of discussions with an oil and gas industry association, Environment Canada has confirmed a substantial rise in greenhouse gas pollution from the oilsands sector in 2009, along with data that casts doubts on whether the industry can continue to reduce emissions per barrel of oil produced.
While overall emissions from the sector rose by 11 per cent in 2009 – a new calculation based on revised Environment Canada estimates for oilsands emissions in 2008 – department spokesperson Mark Johnson said the data indicated “very little change in the total emissions intensity in oilsands” in 2009.
The details on the rise in emissions for the sector were left out of an inventory report on greenhouse gas emissions submitted by Canada to the United Nations.
But they were released gradually over the past week by Environment Canada through a series of emails in response to questions from Postmedia News.
The department declined all interview requests, except for one with a department official that was cancelled at the last minute without explanation.
Throughout this period, the department was communicating also with industry officials and environmental groups about its calculations.
The inventory report notes some of the gains previously touted by industry in reducing emissions intensity by 39 per cent since 1990 were now estimated to be a 29-percent reduction in emissions per barrel of oil produced.
The absolute annual emissions have almost tripled since 1990, according to the numbers released by Environment Canada.
An industry spokesperson said producers believe they can still make “incremental improvements” over the next five years to reduce the growth of emissions leading up to 2016, when the “lion’s share” of oilsands operations will shift to in-situ, or on-site, mining. He suggested this shift offers significant options for new innovations.
“Whether that’s less steam or whether it’s a different heat source, the bottom line is we will continue to reduce our intensity over time, and that’s what Canadians expect,” said Travis Davies, spokesperson for the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers.
“There are still those incremental improvements that can be made and will be made. The real step change stuff does happen over time. But there’s a lot of potential.”
Although Postmedia News quoted sections of the report this week that suggested a 14-per-cent increase in emissions intensity as a result of two new facilities that were not operating at “peak efficiencies,” Johnson explained that this section referred specifically to a portion of pollution from the sector called “fugitive” emissions.
This category of emissions can result from accidents or unexpected situations in the course of production.
The data about the oilsands industry has garnered international media coverage at a time when Canada is trying to promote the sector in jurisdictions such as the United States and Europe.
It has also prompted frustration among both industry representatives and environmental groups who were struggling to find out why the government decided to exclude separate breakdowns for oilsands emissions after including them in the inventory report submitted last year.
mdesouza@postmedia.com
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Oilsands+greenhouse+emissions+2009/4884882/story.html#ixzz1OFOXV86f
Tagged with: greenhouse gas, environment canada
