Weekly Update: The Bleeding Edge

The introduction of methane pricing in the US Inflation Reduction Act

On August 16, 2022, President Biden signed H.R. 5376, a budget reconciliation measure also referred to as the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). With IRA, the United States aims to reduce GHG emissions between 31% to 44% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels through tax incentives and funding mechanisms. A first-ever federal charge is imposed on the excess methane emissions on designated natural gas and petroleum facilities beginning on January 1, 2024.IRA allocated $369 billion to energy and climate change initiatives; a $1.55 billion budget is going to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide incentives, grants, loans, and rebates for facilities, well operators, and communities to e...

article author information By Andrea Noriega Wandurraga, M.Sc.

PSV Sizing for Fire Cases: Is a dynamic model worth the time?

Pressure Safety Valve Sizing For many in our field, Pressure Safety Valve (PSV) sizing is considered to be a relatively simple task that can be performed in a matter of minutes by process engineers with enough experience. Many myths and misconceptions about this task have appeared over the years, as...

By Jairo Duran, PhD

Air emissions management September 28, 2020

Estimating Heat Losses in Heavy Oil Pipelines

It goes without saying that we are in a major energy transition as the drive to reduce carbon emissions and focus on other energy sources is intensifying. Many companies and jurisdictions have pledged to be “net-zero emissions”, with widely varying plans to actually accomplish this.Oil and gas will...

By James Holoboff, M.Sc., P. Eng.

Oil sands / heavy oil July 27, 2020

Estimating Heat Losses in Heavy Oil Pipelines

In a constantly changing market maximizing the flexibility of daily operations can provide the edge over the competition. Daily operational constrains require rapid decision making to minimize downtime and to incur in unnecessary costs. The estimation of heat losses in pipelines is one component tha...

By Jairo Duran, PhD

Air emissions management March 31, 2020

Strategies for Managing Emissions Regulations: Process Ecology’s Approach

Canada’s oil and gas sector is experiencing unprecedented challenges with low oil & gas prices and the development of the Covid-19 pandemic. Added to the uncertainty is the fact that emissions regulations in Canada’s oil and gas sector have become increasingly complex and costly.Despite the immense...

By James Holoboff, M.Sc., P. Eng.

Air emissions management March 31, 2020

Sweetening of sour gases with high-CO2 content using MDEA

For sour gas with high CO2 content, Sulfinol [1] or similar proprietary solvents are typically used. Sulfinol is a mixture of Sulfolane (a physical solvent), water and either DIPA (Diisopropanolamine) or MDEA (with or without Piperazine, an accelerator). Sulfinol has a high CO2 absorption capacity a...

By Abhishek Karole

Air emissions management September 19, 2019

Air Emissions reporting in Western Canada - keeping on top of it all

If you are responsible for air emissions reporting in Canada, you are likely struggling to keep on top of all the regulations and their demands – including data gathering, emissions measurement & estimation, and reporting.How can oil & gas companies cost-effectively manage all the air emissions regu...

By James Holoboff, M.Sc., P. Eng.

Weekly Update

Process engineering and optimization and environmental performance articles

The introduction of methane pricing in the US Inflation Reduction Act

PSV Sizing for Fire Cases: Is a dynamic model worth the time?

Estimating Heat Losses in Heavy Oil Pipelines

Estimating Heat Losses in Heavy Oil Pipelines

Strategies for Managing Emissions Regulations: Process Ecology’s Approach

Sweetening of sour gases with high-CO2 content using MDEA

Air Emissions reporting in Western Canada - keeping on top of it all