The Air Research Planning Committee (ARPC), is a technical committee supporting the Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund (AUPRF) Program. ARPC supports the industry’s desire for shared research development to expand credible and relevant information to address knowledge gaps, allowing for an opportunity to understand and manage high-priority environmental and social matters. ARPC’s goal is to initiate dependable research projects, both fundamental and applied, on existing and emerging environmental issues to support the development of new regulatory requirements and industry best practices.
The Ecological Research Planning Committee (ERPC), is a technical committee supporting the Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund (AUPRF) Program. ERPC supports the industry’s desire for shared research to develop credible and relevant information to address knowledge gaps in the understanding and management of high-priority environmental and social matters related to resource access issues such as caribou, habitat relationship for listed species, wetlands, reclamation, and mitigations.
The Energy Unmanned Traffic Management Trials (UTM) Steering Committee is collaborating on the piloting of the UTM technology in the context of national trials supervised by Transport Canada and NAV Canada. Energy UTM has piloted a technology to allow safe and regulated drone flights beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS).

The Electric Dump Valve Actuator Steering Committee oversees the design, fabrication, shop tests, field tests, affordability, and fail-safe of a zero-emissions electric dump valve actuator to replace existing pneumatic valves. Used to provide process control over flow rate, pressure, and temperature, pneumatic devices account for approximately 20% of methane emissions in the Canadian oil and gas sector.
The Intelligent Methane Monitoring and Mitigation System (IM3S) Steering Committee oversees the progress and deliverables of the IM3S project, which supports the second cohort of the Alberta Methane Field Challenge. The current focus of this initiative is the development of numerical modelling to assist the design of alternative fugitive emissions management programs.

IRAP/SME Innovation and Technology Commercialization in Hydrocarbon Industry Steering Committee
Some of the industry’s most ground-breaking innovations flow from the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) sector. Yet, these small companies often face significant barriers in bringing their ideas to market. The IRAP/SME Innovation and Technology Commercialization in Hydrocarbon Industry Steering Committee facilitates the SME program, run in collaboration with the National Research Council Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP), providing oil and gas SMEs with innovation support, particularly for the demonstration and deployment of near-commercial or deployment-ready technologies that improve environmental performance and reduce costs.


In our constant endeavor to lower methane emissions through innovation, PTAC, along with Alberta Environment and Parks, formed the Methane Consortia Program. This collaborative committee promotes the deployment of innovation within the Alberta oil and gas sector as it applies to methane emissions reductions.

When flaring is unviable or uneconomic, venting may occur. Targeted at eliminating this risk, PTAC is facilitating the PureJet project with collaborators Cenovus Energy, Husky Energy, and Alberta-based Atlantis Research Labs (the Steering Committee) to develop the PureJet Incinerator. This device, coupled with its ability to handle a wide range of pressures and flow rates, enables methane to be destroyed at sites.


The Remediation and Reclamation Research Committee (RRRC), is a technical committee supporting the Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund (AUPRF) Program. RRRC supports the industry’s desire for shared research development to develop credible and relevant information to address knowledge gaps in the understanding and management of high-priority environmental and social matters related to the assessment and management of exploration and production sites as related to geo-environmental protection, soil and groundwater remediation and reclamation, excluding water use, conservation, and resource issues.

The Systematic Third-Party Validation of Environmental and Economic Performance of Methane Reduction Technologies (STV) Steering Committee
oversees the project progress and deliverables for the STV Project launched in 2020. This project will overcome a major gap that hampers the validation, adoption, and deployment of innovative emissions reduction technologies in Alberta’s oil and gas sector. STV will remove a critical barrier to the widespread deployment for a cohort of technologies, all at TRL 7 or 8, and will allow them to cross over the chasm that separates them from full commercialization.

The Technology for Emissions Reduction and Eco-Efficiency (TEREE) Program is a consortium of industry, provincial, and federal government 2022 representatives who convene to provide a mechanism for finding and implementing new technologies and methods required to achieve air emissions reductions in the upstream oil and gas industry. TEREE projects have significantly contributed to the sector by transferring global technologies in the oil and gas industry, explicitly considering emissions reduction and energy efficiency. These project efforts are an imperative element of the R&D currently taking place within the oil and gas industry, fundamentally working to reduce environmental impact, improve performance, and establish the sustainable development of the hydrocarbon industry.

The Water Innovation Planning Committee (WIPC), is a technical committee supporting the Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund (AUPRF) Program. WIPC supports the industry’s desire for shared research to develop credible and relevant information to address knowledge gaps in the understanding and management of high-priority environmental and social matters related to water issues as it pertains to upstream oil and natural gas development, excluding oil sands development; as well as assisting in identifying key challenges for the energy sector across the water management spectrum, including water sourcing, storage, transport, treatment, recycling/reuse, and disposal.

The Well Abandonment Research Initiative Committee (WARI), is a technical committee supporting the Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund (AUPRF) Program. WARI Committee supports the industry’s desire for shared research to develop credible and relevant information to address knowledge gaps related to suspended, abandoned, remediated, and reclaimed wells. A collaborative approach engages subject matter experts, from industry, government, and academia, to identify and prioritize knowledge gaps resulting in research projects addressing high-priority environmental and social matters.