Technology Demonstration: Cost-effective Flaring Mitigation Opportunities

Technology and practice demonstrations at selected PEMEX and Ecopetrol facilities, carried out within the framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMA), produced mitigation and business plans that identified significant opportunities to reduce emissions by recovering high-value liquids from flare streams and avoiding millions of dollars in annual energy and production losses from these facilities.

The NAMA project’s approach to SLCP reduction activities in the oil and gas sector is an example of how public-private cooperation can improve the diffusion of existing technologies and introduce new technologies that could bolster existing efforts on near-term climate change and related public health, food and energy security, and environmental issues.

The projected reductions in SLCPs emissions have the potential to realize significant and measureable environmental, health and social co-benefits, which support the CCAC’s role as a transformative catalyst of change in the oil and gas sector.

The Technology Demonstration Component sought to work collaboratively with key public and private sector stakeholders to reduce methane and black carbon emissions from venting, leakage, and flaring of natural gas from operations worldwide by developing an increased regional capacity for SLCP reductions as well as working in partnership with the private sector.

The Technology Demonstration Component outlined a programme to measure and monitor the implementation of innovative technologies as well as emission mapping and visualization exercises that demonstrate, in a practical manner, that SLCPs could be minimized or eliminated with the implementation of a systemic approach that both decreases emissions and significantly lowers production costs.

The projected reductions in SLCPs emissions have the potential to realize significant and measureable environmental, health and social co-benefits, thus supporting transformative catalyst change in the oil and gas sector and filling a gap that is not currently addressed by international clean energy partnerships.

What CCAC did

Phase 1 of the CCAC Oil and Gas Initiative’s Technology Development Component noted that private sector companies attempting to scale-up their efforts to reduce SLCPs such as black carbon and methane face challenges in trying to emphasize energy efficiency in the production process in a manner that is reliable, affordable and supports emission reduction goals and objectives. 

In other words, one of the main barriers for the sector is to successfully demonstrate the net financial benefits derived from implementing technologies that would provide the highest practical level black carbon reductions achievable through short-term measures that either generate additional revenues or are self-sustaining.

The CCAC through Clearstone Engineering is also implemented Phase 2 of the Technology Demonstration Component which entailed continuing to work with oil and gas companies to address the sector’s market barriers through sustainable medium to long-term financing approaches and strategies such as issuing green bonds based on verified Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) project data that has substantiated significant financial returns for capital investments in emission reductions.

Since 2014, Coalition partners have implemented activities in three key areas:

• Technology Demonstrations (Asia, Africa and Latin America): working with partner companies and countries on opportunities to reduce or eliminate the venting and fugitive leakage of VOC rich natural gas, and black carbon emissions from otherwise vented or flared VOC rich natural gas streams.
• Business Cases (Asia, Africa and Latin America): developing economically sound and competitive business cases for the implementation of technologies and practices to recover methane and readily condensable volatile hydrocarbon liquids and reduce associated SLCP emissions.
• Measurement and Reporting (Asia, Africa and Latin America): verifying increased hydrocarbon production and reduction to atmospheric emissions of methane, VOC and black carbon.