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Upstream oil and gas Fossil fuels don’t just release greenhouse gas emissions when we burn them. Oil and gas create pollution every step of the way from exploration to extraction, processing, delivery and consumption.
The "upstream" oil and gas sector is one of the fastest growing sources of emissions in British Columbia. Upstream oil and gas activities produced five million tonnes of greenhouse gases in 1990, growing to 9.1 million tonnes by 2000. Emissions are expected to increase dramatically even without taking into account the growth resulting from restructuring of provincial oil and gas royalties in 1998. As a condition of the B.C. government’s commitment to lower royalties by 20 to 40 per cent, the oil and gas industry agreed to double oil and gas production capability by 2008. Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced in the upstream oil and gas industry in various ways, such as making combustion sources more efficient, reducing equipment leaks or changing the way fossil fuel reservoirs are accessed from the surface.
Read a letter from the David Suzuki Foundation to B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld.
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Reducing emissions from equipment leaks, for example, can be achieved by minimizing the number of potential leak points (install caps, plugs, blinds or a second valve on open-ended lines) and by performing more regular leak detection and repair activities.
