For further conference or exhibitor information, please contact –

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Opportunities for Partners and Exhibitors

Field-focused wireless, telecommunications and e-business presentations on Exploration, Drilling and Completions, Production and Operations topics will be featured on the first day of the event.

Conference partnerships and a limited number of exhibit spaces are available. Potential presenters must submit a 150-word abstract by September 19, 2003. Registration details will be available on PTAC’s web site in early August.

For information on how to participate as a presenter, conference partner or exhibitor, please contact –

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The Green Toolbox Conference has been rescheduled for September 29-30, 2003. Conference participants will be provided with valuable insight and information on current and upcoming technologies, success stories, challenges, regulations, benchmarking, energy audits, and current practices in GHG and water emission reduction.

Attendees will have opportunities to:

• Learn from industry experts how to measure and benchmark energy and emission intensity, and identify economical opportunities to reduce emissions while improving profitability through the application of new technology.

• Hear from industry/government leaders about emerging industry initiatives and government policy and regulations influencing future oil and gas industry investment, operations and performance regarding GHG and water emissions.

• Learn from industry leaders, through case studies, about new technologies that reduce GHG and water emission intensity while improving profitability.

• Participate in a highly focused trade show as a supplier or user of economical energy and emission intensity reducing technology.

• Participate in round table discussions on barriers and needs for future oil and gas industry performance improvement through development and application of energy and emission reduction technology.

PTAC hosted a series of workshops in May and June to facilitate NRCan’s Industrial Energy Audit Incentive for producers and other stakeholders to show how energy savings could be achieved in upstream oil and gas operations. Bruce Peachey of New Paradigm Engineering led the following series of workshops:

• Oil & Gas Vent Gas Opportunities Workshop, held May 8th in Calgary and May 14th in Edmonton
• Thermal Heavy Oil Energy Efficiency Opportunities Workshop, held May 6th in Calgary
• Oil & Gas Methane Vents in Saskatchewan, held June 18th in Regina

The objective of these technology transfer workshops is to increase awareness for producers and stakeholders of current or potentially available options that could be economically implemented to decrease energy consumption and reduce emissions.

PTAC will supply user-friendly technical support to facility managers or field level foremen to achieve reduced energy use and improve bottom-line performance of their business units.

For technical information, please contact –

Bruce Peachey
New Paradigm Engineering Ltd
phone: (780) 448-9195
newparadigm@shaw.ca

For program information, visit PTAC’s web site at www.ptac.org/iei1.html or contact –

Brenda Belland
Information Specialist
phone: (403) 218-7712

In order for Western Canada’s hydrocarbon energy industry to continue its strong growth, there is an urgent need to address potentially serious economic, market and environmental challenges. In the near term, the Kyoto Protocol is the first challenge. This will not be the last issue as hydrocarbon energy increases its presence as a global commodity and priority for Canadian National and North American energy security. As a result, Western Canada’s currently thriving energy industry must understand its ability, willingness and capacity to make a dramatic and crucial shift from the historical approaches to traditional hydrocarbon operations to an exciting and rewarding future for energy resource development and use.

The group worked together to produce a report and initiate a process that would hopefully grow beyond the scope of the original group to provide a foundation for a broader consultation and engagement process. In this ongoing process, other perspectives and information will become important contributors to a more robust and complete framing of the opportunity that the next decades represent in terms of “made in Canada” technological solutions that will make Canada a leader in clean energy from hydrocarbons. The full “Cleaner Hydrocarbons” report can be viewed at www.ptac.org/linktech1.html. The challenge in the next steps is to broaden and deepen the discussion to produce a multi-decade cleaner hydrocarbons technology development and demonstration plan for Canada.

For more information on this report, please contact –

Dr. Ian J. Potter, Director,
Sustainable Energy Futures
Alberta Research Council
phone: (780) 450-5401
potter@arc.ab.ca

Bruce Stewart, Director,
CANMET Energy Technology Centre, Devon
phone: (780) 987-8614
bstewart@nrcan.gc.ca

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Participants heard a project overview of the DIAL testing which took place at various Alberta oil and gas facilities from May 26th to June 20^th. ARC and Spectrasyne representatives reviewed the measurement method and capabilities of the equipment and learned about promising initial results from testing of the mobile hydrocarbons and SO₂ remote monitoring unit. Participants were also escorted on a tour of the mobile laboratory.

The project in Alberta evaluated DIAL for remote monitoring of SO₂, measurement of fugitive emissions of hydrocarbons from gas processing facilities and measurement of combustion efficiency of well test flares and solution gas flares.

Spectrasyne has commercially operated a mobile DIAL unit in Europe for measuring fugitive emissions from industrial facilities for over 15 years. To date, most of their work has been in the European oil industry, measuring mass emission rates of VOCs and aromatics from refineries, storage areas, terminals and other facilities. The equipment can quickly measure 2D and 3D profiles of components such as SO₂ and hydrocarbons in plumes from stacks, flares and processing facilities to quantify emissions and directly locate and quantify individual sources of emissions.

For more information on this project, please contact –

Allan Chambers
Alberta Research Council
phone: (780) 450-5122
chambers@arc.ab.ca

PTAC is hosting this Forum and Workshop on October 14-15, 2003. Ecological issues of concern to industry that are driving change in land management will be highlighted. Impacts on industry will be significant and will change business-as-usual behaviour in the upstream oil and gas industry. This event will provide the unique opportunity to participate in lively discussions with a variety of scientists, government and industry professionals.

Forum - Setting the Stage
Topics include:

• Strategic Directions in Ecosystem Management
• Biodiversity
• Species at Risk
• Revegetation and Indigenous Species
• Showcasing Best Practices/Application of Technology

Workshop – Identify Problems and Brainstorm Solutions

• Discuss key R&D issues that have been identified by industry
• Participate in discussions to express your views or ask questions pertaining to key issues
• Participate in breakout groups that will address the challenges ahead

For more information on this event, please contact –

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

The FMF Grizzly Bear Research Project will be entering its final year of this five- year study in 2003. To date, this project has accumulated the largest grizzly bear movement data set in North America and these data form the basis for the integrated research team to explore and understand grizzly bear response to current and changing landscape conditions within this ecosystem. This research program has a collaborative, integrated research team that includes noted scientists from a number of different universities in Canada and the US.

To this point, the team has generated over 40 technical papers and reports from the research conducted over the past five years. The team is comprised of leading experts in the areas of conservation biology, population modelling, genetics, remote sensing, and animal health who serve as the scientific advisory board for this project.

The following objectives for the final year of this project remain relatively unchanged since the initiation of the program:

• Test the RSF probability of bear occurrence models with the final year of bear movement data and make any needed model adjustments.
• Produce a final, validated habitat map product using remote sensing tools and GIS data.
• Compile all existing data on grizzly bear health measures, collected over the five year period to determine what, if any, relationships exist between grizzly bear health, human activities, and landscape change.
• Continue to advance techniques to measure and track grizzly bear population status to allow for new approaches to track the effects of all land use activities on grizzly bear habitat, with significant funding support from the USA.
• Complete work on graph theory models to show grizzly bear movement routes within the study area.

This research program and subsequent results will figure prominently in the development of the Alberta Grizzly Bear Recovery Plan currently in progress. The tools and models developed will be tested and utilized in other grizzly bear habitat across the province. The results of this research may be made available to all land users and managers so that grizzly bear habitat needs will be factored into human activities in grizzly bear habitat.

Currently in its fourth year of its five-year mandate, this research project has required significant resources from a host of program sponsors during this time. The ongoing support of this program from industry, government, and the private sectors indicates that the research questions are important to a host of stakeholders. In addition, the products that have been developed and tested to date are now assisting CAPP members (i.e. ConocoPhillips Canada) in pipeline planning activities in this region.

Over $2.3 million has been spent on this high priority grizzly bear research program, which has been ranked as the highest priority wildlife research program with Alberta Fish and Wildlife Division over the past three years. The ongoing financial support of all our program partners will ensure that all our program objectives are achieved according to the stated timelines. Annual reports are available for the first three years of this program.

For more information on this project, please contact –

Gordon Stenhouse
Alberta Environment
phone: (780) 865-8388
gordon.stenhouse@gov.ab.ca

The Canada-wide Standards for Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Soils (PHC CWS) have identified both the toxicity of Fraction 3 (F3) and the potential for interactions among fractions as areas requiring study. The current ecological receptor values for F3 are thought to be overly conservative. Fraction 3 spans a relatively large n-alkane boiling point range, and it is believed that the toxicity for whole F3 is not reflective of the toxicity of the higher molecular weight constituents that remain in soils following weathering and/or remediation.

To address this potential difference, F3 will be fractionated into two subfractions (F3a [nC17-nC24] and F3b [nC25-nC34]) and the toxicity of the two subfractions assessed using a similar test battery of terrestrial organisms as that used with F3. Maximum allowable benchmark values for the protection of ecological receptors for the two subfractions will be proposed.

The current PHC CWS is based on the effect of single fractions and does not consider the potential for interactions among fractions that are present concurrently. Generally, interactions among petroleum hydrocarbons are assumed to be additive; however, data suggest that the interactions might be less-than-additive (antagonistic). Select binary combinations of fractions 1, 2, 3a, and 3b will be studied.

A detailed investigation of the uptake of these fractions by earthworms and the nature of their interaction effects is proposed. Recommendations on the integration of the results into the PHC CWS will be provided.

For more information on this study, please contact –

Gladys Stephenson
Stantec Consulting Ltd.
phone: (519) 836-6050
GStephenson@stantec.com

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Evaluations of roadmapping in Canada and the United States have discovered that those organizations that were involved in the process benefited the most. Therefore, the Chamber requests your company’s support by sending a representative to one or more of the September workshops: September 5th (Fort McMurray), September 8th (Edmonton) and September 10th (Calgary).

John Oxenford
Syncrude Canada Ltd.
phone: (780) 970-6810
oxenford.john@syncrude.com

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A new royalty program has been announced to promote the development of a carbon dioxide (CO₂) enhanced oil/gas recovery industry in Alberta as evidence of the province’s commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Minister of Alberta Energy has announced a maximum of $15 million is being provided over five years in the form of royalty credits to offset up to 30 per cent of companies’ approved costs in approved CO₂ projects. A maximum of $5 million in royalty credits may be approved for a single project. Alberta Energy is also revising royalty deductions under the Enhanced Recovery of Oil Royalty Reduction Regulation. It is expected that the additional oil recovered will result, over time, in over $30 million in additional royalty payments.

Enhanced recovery methods like CO₂ injection have the potential to provide significant long-term benefits to Alberta through increased production and economic activity in addition to managing Alberta’s greenhouse gas emissions as part of Alberta’s “Albertans & Climate Change – Taking Action.”

Current production methods recover approximately 30 per cent of conventional oil and 70 per cent of conventional gas. By injecting CO₂ into a mature producing well, producers can potentially increase their recovery percentage while at the same time reducing CO₂ emissions through geological storage. CO₂ Enhanced Oil Recovery is a commercially proven technology. When CO₂ is injected into an oil reservoir it mixes with the crude oil, causing it to swell and flow more freely. At the same time the reservoir pressure is maintained or increased. The combination of these processes enables more of the crude oil to be recovered.

Companies interested in the CO₂ Projects Royalty Credit Program can complete an application package and submit it to the Department of Alberta Energy. Approval of applications will be constrained by total program funding, time limit for the program and project selection criteria. Further information on the application process was issued in June 2003.

Gordon Vincent, Director of Communications
Alberta Energy
phone: (780) 422-3667
Gordon.Vincent@gov.ab.ca

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This web survey was prepared in order to attract comments on one of the central challenges facing Canada’s oil and gas industry today: stimulating investment in research and technology in order to extend the recoverability of oil and gas in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.

The survey was part of a study called the Oil & Gas Industry Research & Development Challenges & Opportunities Project, undertaken by PTAC at the request of the Alberta Energy Research Institute in cooperation with the Alberta Department of Energy.

The survey ran from late May to early July 2003, attracted 144 responses in total and offered two valuable prizes to be drawn from survey participants.

Survey results are now available on PTAC’s home page at www.ptac.org.

Congratulations to the PTAC Web Survey Winners

The winner of the Golf Passes for Two in the Kananaskis, complete with golf cart is Rick Palmer, VECO Canada Ltd. - Alliance Group

The winner of the Two Tickets to the Calgary Stampeders Labour Day Classic Football Game is Kim Mohler, Anadarko Canada Corporation

Prizes will be sent to the winners upon notification.

For more information on the AERI – PTAC Challenge & Opportunity Project, please contact –

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

PTAC now has 167 members. We welcome the following new members:

Service and Supply Companies

• G Tech Earth Sciences Corporation
• Industrial Catalytic Technologies Inc.
• Oasis Emission Consultants Inc.
• Photon Control Inc.
• Plains Marketing Canada
• Pro-EnviroCore Consulting Inc.

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

PTAC Petroleum Technology Alliance Canada