Fifty per cent reduction in solution gas flaring : a report to the Saddle Hills Awareness Committee

Information by the Alberta Energy Company to the Saddle Hills Awareness Committee (SHAC) regarding company operations in the West Peace River Arch of the western Canadian Sedimentary Basin in northwest Alberta is presented, the purpose being to bring the Committee up-to-date, and respond to concerns about the health effects of sour gas emissions. The SHAC represents citizens who are concerned about issues relating to sour gas emissions. AEC West, a business unit of Alberta Energy Company, operates two sour gas processing plants, one sweet gas plant and three sour oil batteries in the Grande Prairie area. AEC's gas plants are connected by pipelines and process petroleum and natural gas products from approximately 200 oil and gas wells. The H2S content of the natural gas being processed by AEC's various plants ranges from trace amounts to 11 per cent. Activities at AEC's Hythe plant and at the Sexsmith plant, and the company's gas storage project are briefly reviewed. An analysis is included of the role that flaring plays in the petroleum and natural gas industry, emphasizing AEC West's efforts during 1997 to reduce solution gas flaring volumes from single well oil batteries by 50 per cent. Other AEC West environmental protection initiatives include the preliminary regional airshed study sponsored by the company which resulted in part from SHAC feedback and in part from the innovative approach of AEC employees. AEC West established the industry's first Ombudsman to provide a problem resolution focus on landowner complaints and introduced a policy of making available solution gas that would eventually be flared to industrial colleagues, free of charge