Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen

Solution Developer

Kathairos Solutions Inc.

Project Description

Methane venting on remote oil and gas well sites presents a massive environmental challenge. Alberta currently has more than 100,000 such sites, routinely venting millions of tonnes of methane each year. Until now, addressing the issue has been difficult, complex and cost-prohibitive, particularly on small, low-production wells.
Kathairos’ technology uses liquid nitrogen, a non-toxic, non-polluting gas that constitutes 78% of the air we breathe, to power remote oil and gas well site devices. In doing so, the need for methane as an operating fuel is completely eliminated, as is the need to vent the harmful gas after it is used.
In partnership with Cenovus Energy and Ovintiv, the Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen project involves the elimination of methane venting on an estimated 60 remote Alberta well site locations over a two-year period. This includes 40 single well sites with Cenovus and, pending a successful initial three-month trial, an additional 20 multi-well pads with Ovintiv.
The technology is innovative in its simplicity, offering upstream producers an efficient, economical and low-maintenance option for eliminating emissions from single-well locations.
The Simple Methane Elimination Using Nitrogen project will provide an immediate and meaningful reduction to Canada’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while demonstrating to the international energy industry that methane vented from pneumatic devices on remote well sites can indeed be reliably and affordably brought to zero.

Benefits/Outcomes

• Elimination of a projected 18,720 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year over the two-year project period.

• Creation of a significant number of high-skilled jobs while engaging Alberta’s underutilized nitrogen production assets.

• The company’s telemetry and cloud-based data portal provide producers with highly accurate and accessible emission mitigation and carbon offset data.

• Note: Emissions reduction estimates are based on early analysis by proponents and will be monitored and reported throughout the project.

Project Resources