Data Mining Public Records to Understand the Occurrence of Fugitive Gas Migration in British Columbia, Canada
Monday, March 4, 2019: 11:55 a.m.
Elyse Sandl
,
Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Aaron Cahill, Ph.D.
,
Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Roger Beckie, Ph.D.
,
Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Laurie Welch, Ph.D.
,
British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission, Kelowna, BC, Canada
What can we learn about fugitive methane by conducting statistical analysis of public oil and gas records? In Canada, energy producers are required to report well drilling, completion, production, and abandonment records to the provincial regulators. We are able to access and mine this valuable public dataset to identify well conditions that pose the highest likelihood for fugitive gas migration (GM) in British Columbia, Canada (BC). Presently, GM occurs in 0.6% of the 25,000 oil and gas wells in BC. However, the industry is expected to expand with the construction of an LNG plant opening up Asian markets to Canadian natural gas. Increasing development poses higher risk to groundwater resources and creates an urgency to understand and address the issue of GM. Here we employ multilevel logistic regression to assess the associations between reported occurrences of GM and various well attributes. To account for variation among geological environments and spatial data clustering, the models also assessed variations in effects between regional fields. Preliminary findings suggest that surface casing vent flows and well orientation have the strongest correlations across several fields. Our findings have the potential to help guide GM detection and risk management approaches employed by industry and regulators.
Elyse Sandl, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Elyse is currently undertaking a master’s degree in hydrogeology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She has a Bachelor’s of Science in Geology from Queen’s University (Canada), and five years of technically focused groundwater consulting experience in both the mining and environmental sectors.
Aaron Cahill, Ph.D., Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dr. Aaron Cahill is a Research Associate and the Co-Director of the Energy and Environment Research Initiative at the University of British Columbia, Canada. A hydrogeologist by training, Aaron received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Birmingham (UK). He attained his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark in 2013 and undertook a 3-year Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Guelph (Canada) researching migration, impacts and fate of fugitive methane from energy resource development in groundwater.
Roger Beckie, Ph.D., Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Dr. Roger Beckie is a Professor and Co-Director of the Energy and Environment Research Initiative in the department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of British Columbia. His scholarly contributions fall in three themes: i) the hydrology and geochemistry of mining waste rock, ii) geochemistry and hydrology of the hyporheic zone of the Fraser River, British Columbia, and iii) geochemistry and hydrology of deltaic aquifers.
Laurie Welch, Ph.D., British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission, Kelowna, BC, Canada
Dr. Welch is the subject matter expert Hydrogeologist at the British Columbia Oil and Gas Commission (BC OGC). Working with Drilling Engineering and Reservoir Engineering, her focus is on the multi-disciplinary groundwater protection aspects of oil and gas well drilling, completion, and abandonment. She is involved in regulatory and process enhancement initiatives and development of technical procedures. Dr. Welch also works with academic researchers to identify and frame research needs, inform technical and regulatory aspects of research programs, and facilitate the extension of scientific knowledge to practical applications.
