3571 Recommended practices for CH4 emissions detection and quantification

Overview:

This document has been developed as a follow up of the project to IOGP Report 661 Recommended practices for methane emissions detection and quantification technologies – upstream, performed for IOGP, IPIECA and OGCI, which aims to provide oil and gas operators with guidelines for selecting and deploying methane emissions detection and quantification technologies tailored to the situation at their sites, with the aim of improving upstream methane management and emissions reporting.

This document addresses technologies to quantify the emissions from flares, which are an important source of greenhouse gas emissions in the oil and gas industry. The report and an accompanying Technology filtering tool can be used to guide operators by asking questions to identify potentially relevant technologies to quantify emissions from flares. A series of detailed data sheets have been developed through input from various stakeholders, including technology providers, operators, and academic research.

This report also covers other measurement techniques and technologies important for flare performance monitoring, which include single and multi-sensor aerial methods (drones and aircrafts), stationary methods, and calculation-based methods (numerical models and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)/predictive systems). Case studies are presented as a knowledge sharing exercise to address how the implementation of technology can be used to identify flaring emissions and inform emissions reduction. Therefore, the work presented in this report is complementary to initiatives to minimise or eliminate routine flaring.

An online technology filtering tool, detailed technology data sheets covering 7 combustion efficiency and flaring destruction technologies, and decision trees to guide technology deployment have also been developed alongside the Report.