Emissions Cap Puts Methane in Spotlight; Industry Says Low-Hanging Fruit Already Gone – Additional Federal Goals Will be a Significant Challenge

CALGARY — Oil and gas producers who have already made progress on lowering their methane emissions over the last decade say further large-scale reductions will be tougher to deliver.

The federal government published new draft regulations Monday that would require oil and gas producers in Canada to cut total greenhouse gas emissions by about one-third over the next eight years.

The bulk of the emissions from Canada’s energy sector come in the form of CO2 pollution from Alberta’s massive oilsands operations, which were responsible for 40 per cent of the oil-and-gas industry’s overall emissions in 2022.

But even though the oilsands are the primary driver of emissions for the industry, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said government modelling suggests that about half of the cuts required under the new rules could come from the conventional, non-oilsands sector.

The conventional sector produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as a byproduct of the oil-and-gas drilling process.

Due in part to government regulations, the oil and gas sector decreased its methane emissions by 45 per cent between 2014 and 2022. But Ottawa wants the industry to achieve a 75 per cent reduction by 2030, something producers say will be a significant challenge.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2024.

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

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