The University of Alberta (U of A) recently launched a $3.1 million flaring research project with financial and in-kind support from Environment Canada, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). The lead researcher is Dr. Larry Kostiuk with direction provided by the PTAC Flaring Technical Steering Committee (FTSC). The work will be completed at both the U of A Flare Research Facility in Edmonton and a large wind tunnel located at the Institute for Aerodynamic Research at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) in Ottawa. This work is a continuation of the flaring research facilitated by PTAC that commenced in 1999.

The short-term objectives of the project are to:

1. Validate (or modify, if necessary) scaling relationships to estimate combustion efficiency, flame length and plume size for flares up to 100 mm in diameter.

2. Develop techniques to measure the overall efficiency of full-scale flares in the controlled environment of a large wind tunnel.

3. Understand the detailed fluid mechanics around the flare stack exit that lead to combustion inefficiencies (fuel stripping mechanism).

4. Develop practical solutions that are based on our understanding of the fuel stripping mechanism to improve efficiency of flares.

5. Transfer this knowledge to Canadian energy and petroleum industries, regulators and flare manufacturers.

These short-term objectives are working towards long-term goals, which are to:

• Use the techniques developed to measure the efficiency of full-scale flares in a wind tunnel, in order to propose methods for measuring the efficiency of flares in the field, to meet regulated performance standards.
• Provide industry and regulators with realistic models for predicting flare efficiency.
• Improve the accuracy and confidence in engineering design procedures for flares.

CAPP and Environment Canada funding has been committed for up to 5 years and efforts are currently underway to establish a 5-year NSERC Industrial Chair Program to work towards the long-term goals and additional enhanced objectives.

For additional information, please contact:
Dave Lye at (403) 515-2711 or Bill Reynen at (819) 997-1223, co-chairs, PTAC FTSC; Larry Kostiuk at (780) 492-3450; or visit www.mece.ualberta.ca/groups/combustion/flare/index.html

PTAC is hosting a flaring/venting/fugitive emissions research technical forum, on May 30, 2001, at which researchers will report on the results of recent research. Participants will learn how the results of these projects may change the direction of future R&D. There will be opportunities to get involved in current or planned research projects of interest and provide input into future R&D needs and priorities. The forum will be attended by industry, regulators, government, researchers and service and supply organizations.

The petroleum industry plays an important role in sponsoring environmental research in Canada. The upstream oil and gas industry has a long record of initiating and funding studies that offer practical, cost-effective solutions to environmental issues.

Once again, the Environmental Research Advisory Council (ERAC) is seeking funding applications for projects that would be of interest to industry. ERAC funds are distributed with direction from CAPP member companies who are dedicated to improving environ-mental, safety and health performance of their operations. To be approved for funding, projects must provide science-based solutions to current and emerging environmental issues that are critical to the industry. Most of the research is collaboratively funded and managed with Environment Canada, Alberta Environment and other interested parties.

CAPP’s priorities for 2002 are to identify cost-effective ways to:

• reduce air emissions,
• remediate soil or groundwater that contains hydrocarbon or salt water, and
• identify and protect habitat of sensitive species that may occur in areas of oil and gas exploration and production.

PTAC has been contracted to coordinate and facilitate the ERAC projects, including coordinating and collecting funding applications. The applications are passed on to CAPP and are prioritized by industry members who will identify which projects will receive funds.

For information on past ERAC projects, please refer to PTAC’s website at www.ptac.org/techenvp.html

You can fill out the application form on-line at www.ptac.org/funding1.html and it will be emailed directly to Tannis Such of PTAC who will collect and distribute applications. If you would like a copy of the application form or have any questions, please contact:

Tannis Such
Environment, Health and Safety Coordinator
phone: (403) 218-7703

PTAC and CAPP have now sponsored two successful workshops by New Paradigm Engineering Limited (NPEL) in Calgary and Lloydminster. These Technology Transfer Workshops are based on NPEL’s recently completed study which has defined, developed and documented economic options for vent gas utilization and mitigation for conventional heavy oil operations. This study was funded by Husky, CNRL, Anderson, Nexen, AEC, Exxon-Mobil, EnerMark/Enerplus, and AERI. Similar studies have also been launched for conventional oil and gas and thermal heavy oil operations.

These workshops will run again in Calgary and Lloydminster at the end of May / early June.

PTAC and Climate Change Central are proposing that a Climate Change Technical Steering Committee be created to focus on opportunities to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of conventional oil and gas operators. Participation in the technical committee is open to participants from Western Canadian industry, government and Environmental Non-Government Organizations (ENGO). Stakeholder representatives must be prepared to work collaboratively using consensus decision making.

Objectives of this committee will be to:

• Identify research and technology development needs and priorities.
• Identify specific projects that can be moved forward quickly and will yield greenhouse gas emission reductions in the short-term (1 year time frame).
• Lay the foundation for a flagship project in the area of conventional oil and gas production that stakeholders are willing to move forward within the medium-term (2-3 year time frame).

It is expected that once the committee has developed a mission statement, specific priorities with appropriate working groups will be created. Stakeholders must be willing to commit to moving forward pilot projects within these working groups. The launch meeting for this committee is scheduled to be held on June 19, 2001 from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

There are currently over 5000 heavy oil wells producing by cold flow in Western Canada. The producing life of a typical well is limited and as a consequence, total conventional heavy oil production in Canada is predicted to begin to drop as early as 2005/06. In the province of Saskatchewan, heavy and medium oil makes up 75% of the oil production. A recent PTAC workshop on enhanced recovery technologies for post-cold flow production attracted over 50 people with representatives from a dozen petroleum companies.

PTAC hosted a highly successful Driving Safety Workshop on February 28, 2001 that was attended by 75 participants. The workshop focused on driving safety initiatives, new research and technology development and areas of concern to industry, regulators, researchers and the public.

There were four areas of interest that were the focal points of break-out groups, highlights as follows:

An Executive Information Session on the Alberta Motor Association’s Mission Possible program was held March 8, 2001 at the Petroleum Club. The purpose of this session was to educate and elicit support from upper level management for the Mission Possible Program. The objective of Mission Possible is to reduce the number of traffic-related deaths and injuries and lessen the financial impact of traffic collisions in Alberta. By coordinating the resources and efforts of a number of stakeholders, Mission Possible achieves far greater success than would be possible by acting independently.

The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency (CCRA) is pleased to announce the formation of a technical working group in collaboration with Petroleum Services Association of Canada (PSAC), PTAC and KPMG High Technology Practice Group. The purpose of this working group is to assist the oil and gas industry to understand, and to make greater use of the federal government’s Scientific Research and Experimental Development (SR&ED) Program. The SR&ED Program affords Canadian companies an avenue to write off expenditures incurred on R&D carried out in Canada. In addition, the program provides tax credits at the rate of 20-35% of eligible expenditures (depending on the size of the company). This working group is made up of technical personnel drawn from CCRA, the petroleum services industry, research and regulatory organizations as well as petroleum producers. More participants are always welcome.

The inaugural meeting of the working group took place on October 4, 2000 with about 75 delegates in attendance. During that session, a survey of the participants was conducted to determine among other things, the frequency of meetings, the preferred duration of these meetings, and the list of issues to be addressed. The survey results showed that participants preferred meeting once every two months for a 2-3 hour session, with the following issues identified as the ones most relevant to the industry: project definition, eligibility criteria, documentation, capital equipment, shop floor R&D, field pilots, and third party payments. The third session, which took place on May 2, 2001, dealt with the three eligibility criteria for SR&ED. The next session will be held in September, 2001 and will deal with evidence or documentation of SR&ED work.

PTAC is pleased to announce the formation of the Technology Centre for Natural Gas (TCNG) for the Canadian conventional upstream oil and gas industry. The purpose of the TCNG is to provide public access to non-proprietary natural gas technology information. The TCNG is located in PTAC’s offices and will offer information on commercially available advanced natural gas exploration, production and processing technologies. The establishment of the TCNG is being funded through the Canadian Regional Technology Transfer Agent (RTTA) program, a joint venture between PTAC and GTI. All resource material will be supplied by GTI and other PTAC members. NGTC patrons will have access to selected databases to locate pertinent technical information. The TCNG Information Specialist, Brenda Belland, will be available to perform searches on subject- specific databases, provide contact information to clients, and to assist in obtaining information that is not in-house.

We invite PTAC members to provide non-proprietary natural gas related technical information, in hard copy or electronic format, to be housed in the TCNG. We encourage you to submit relevant materials for consideration, at your earliest convenience as well as on an on-going basis. TCNG is also interested in receiving relevant library donations from corporate collections, individual collections, professional societies, government agencies, etc.

We welcome Eddy Isaacs, Managing Director, Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI) and Andrew Seto of Husky to PTAC’s Board of Directors. We wish to express our thanks to Frank McIntyre for his contributions to PTAC’s Board.

Please visit PTAC’s website at www.ptac.org for information on PTAC events, projects, members, publications and much more.

We are continually developing the website. Two recently added sections are:

• Request Tech Info, which allows users to request information by technical area at www.ptac.org/request1.html
• Technical Links, which supplies links, also by technical area, at www.ptac.org/linktech1.html

PTAC’s 2000 Annual Report is also available at www.ptac.org/ar1.html

PTAC continues to grow and we now have 164 members. We welcome the following new members:

• Passage Energy Inc.

• Clean-Flo Gas Filtration Systems (1987) Ltd.
• G-Chem Environmental Ltd.
• Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
  (Intellectual Property Department)
• Katch Kan Limited
• Marine Pipeline Construction
• Q’Max Solutions Inc.
• Quality Certification Bureau Inc.
• Rejuvenation Resources Ltd.
• Seal-MastR Systems Ltd.
• Sierra Systems
• The Petroleum Place, Inc.
• Thomson Hydrogologic Consulting

PTAC is dedicated to the facilitation of innovation, technology transfer and research and development in the upstream oil and gas industry.

PTAC is a not-for-profit association governed by a volunteer board of directors made up of representatives from producers, service and supply companies, research and educational institutions, inventors and government.

PTAC
Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada
Suite 750, Hanover Place
101 - 6th Avenue S.W.
Calgary, Alberta T2P 3P4
website: www.ptac.org
fax: (403) 920-0054

Eric Lloyd
President
phone: (403) 218-7701

Denis Gaudet
Director, Technology Transfer
phone: (403) 218-7710

Arlene Merling
Director, Operations
phone: (403) 218-7702

Jane Arnall
Event Coordinator
phone: (403) 218-7704

Brenda Belland
Information Specialist
Technology Centre for Natural Gas
phone: (403) 218-7712

Lorie Frei
Administrative Assistant
phone: (403) 218-7700

Kerri Markle
Technology Transfer Coordinator
phone: (403) 218-7711