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News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
EUB RELEASES ANNUAL FIELD SURVEILLANCE SUMMARY: Industry Compliance Improves in 2002
Calgary, Alberta (May 8, 2003) - The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) has released its annual Field Surveillance Provincial Summary (Statistical Series 57), outlining the wide range of activities carried out by EUB field staff including inspections, enforcement actions, and subsequent industry compliance.
The Provincial Summary reports on inspections and results for drilling, servicing, oil and gas production facilities, pipelines, spills, and waste management. The report also covers the numbers and types of public complaints the EUB responds to, and field staff participation with the public.
In 2002, the EUB recorded improved industry performance including an improved satisfactory inspection rate, a decrease in failure frequency for pipelines, a decrease in the volumes of hydrocarbon and produced water spills, and a small decrease in public complaints.
The EUB is encouraged by the positive results reported in many areas but has noted an increase in the number of major unsatisfactory pipeline inspections. The increase was due in part to the implementation of Guide 66: Pipeline Inspection Manual requiring more stringent enforcement of the requirement for corrosion mitigation programs. The EUB will work with licensees to improve their corrosion mitigation monitoring and will continue to monitor industry's performance to minimize incidents of pipeline corrosion.
Field Surveillance uses two mobile air monitoring units to assist inspection staff in identifying facilities that emit fugitive emissions. In 2002, the EUB monitored 196 facilities for H2S and SO2 emissions, a considerable increase from the 28 facilities monitored in 2001. Industry is improving its compliance record in the area of air emissions from oil and gas facilities.
The Alberta Energy and Utilities Board ensures that the discovery, development, and delivery of Alberta's resources take place in a manner that is fair, responsible, and in the public interest.
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This news release and the Field Surveillance Provincial Summary are available on the EUB Web site at www.ercb.ca.
For further information, contact:
Brenda Poole Bellows
EUB Communications
Telephone: (403) 297-7012
Email: brenda.poolebellows@gov.ab.ca
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Backgrounder
Field Surveillance Summary 2002
The EUB oversees the safe, responsible development of Alberta's energy resources and is committed to building a regulatory framework that inspires public confidence. As part of this mandate, the Field Surveillance Branch inspects over 110 000 operating wells, 16 527 oil batteries and associated satellites, 733 gas plants, and about 317 000 kilometres (km) of pipelines that form the core of Alberta's energy infrastructure. EUB field staff also enforce standards and conditions set out in licences, approvals, and EUB regulations and requirements.
Operating out of eight EUB Field Centres throughout Alberta, 115 field staff inspect construction, operation, and abandonment operations at oil, gas, and oil sands facilities (including pipelines, compressors, and processing plants). They respond to emergencies and public complaints on a 24-hour basis and ensure a consistent approach to enforcement of requirements with noncompliant operators. Recognizing the importance of open communications and community input, the Field Surveillance Branch increased the time spent facilitating the resolution of landowner-industry conflicts and participating in public-industry liaison committees in 2002.
Field Surveillance staff will continue to focus on pipeline corrosion, noncompliant operators, air monitoring activities, facilitation, and improving communication with synergy groups and First Nations and Metis communities throughout the province.
For 2002 and future years, the Field Surveillance Provincial Summary will report on activities during the calendar year (January 1 to December 31), instead of the fiscal year (April 1 to March 31). As a result, incidents reported in the last three months of the previous EUB Provincial Summary Report have been included in this report, and all comparisons between 2002 and 2001/2002 numbers include a three-month overlap.
Inspections
The EUB kept pace with high activity levels in energy development:
- 13 193 wells were drilled in 2002 , in comparison to 14 307 in 2001/2002.
- 8255 initial inspections and 2201 reinspections were completed in calendar year 2002, in comparison to 8407 initial inspections and 2129 reinspections completed in 2001/2002, due to increased personnel allocated to facilitation work, training new staff, and the new field inspection system.
Satisfactory inspections increased significantly, from 64 per cent in 2001/2002 to 70.6 per cent in 2002. Minor unsatisfactory inspections remained constant at 25 per cent, while major and serious unsatisfactory inspections decreased from 4.4 per cent in 2001/2002 to 3.9 per cent in 2002. There was only one serious unsatisfactory inspection in 2002, compared to 11 in 2001/2002.
Enforcement
The EUB is confident that, in general, Alberta's energy industry strives to comply with EUB regulations, requirements, and programs. However, companies that fail to meet requirements or follow EUB direction are subject to escalating enforcement consequences. Enforcement actions always include deadlines for fixing a problem and may be reinforced by penalties, such as temporary or long-term suspension of operations.
In 2002 the number of facilities the EUB ordered suspended decreased to 128 facilities, down from 142 in 2001/2002 and 236 in 2000/2001. However, the cost to industry was greater: $25.8 million in 2002, compared to $16.3 million in 2001/2002 and $12 million in 2000/2001.
Notable improvements in industry compliance include well servicing operations where, since 1998/1999, the percentage of unsatisfactory inspections has decreased from 12.2 to 6.3. As well, of all the inspections conducted on gas facilities, the percentage that were found to have major unsatisfactory noncompliances decreased from 4.3 in 2001/2002 to 2.3 in 2002.
Definitions
- A satisfactory inspection finds that all regulations and requirements are met.
- A minor unsatisfactory inspection finds a contravention of regulation(s) and/or requirement(s) that does not result in a direct threat to the public and/or the environment and does not adversely affect oil and gas operations.
- A major unsatisfactory inspection finds a contravention of regulation(s) and/or requirement(s) that an operator has failed to address and/or has the potential to cause an adverse impact on the public and/or the environment.
- A serious unsatisfactory inspection finds a total disregard for regulation(s) and/or requirement(s) that is causing or may cause significant impact on the public and/or the environment.
Field inspections, 2002
Well Control Occurrences
Blows and blowouts during drilling and servicing operations are among the most serious incidents for well operations and have the potential to cause public safety and environmental impacts. The EUB regards the number of blows, blowouts, and kicks as a primary indicator of industry's drilling and servicing performance and pays particularly close attention to industry's response to these incidents.
Requirements for high training standards and sophisticated blowout detection and prevention equipment have helped to keep well control occurrences to a minimum. Of the 13 193 wells drilled in 2002, the EUB recorded
- 6 blowouts, 0 blows, and 78 kicks during drilling operations, and
- 5 blowouts and 2 blows during servicing.
All were brought under control with minimal environmental damage and no public safety impacts. The EUB will continue to review all blows and blowouts related to drilling and servicing operations to identify changes to equipment, procedures, and regulations that may be required to reduce drilling and servicing blows and blowouts.
The 78 kicks recorded in 2002 equate to a kick occurrence rate of approximately 6 kicks per 1000 wells drilled. The kick occurrence rate has remained relatively constant for the last five years and is a significant improvement from the years prior to 1997/1998, when the rate averaged 23 kicks per 1000 wells drilled.
Definitions
- Blows are the unexpected release of wellbore fluids into the atmosphere.
- Blowouts are the complete loss of control of the flow of fluids from a well.
- Kicks are any unexpected entry of water, gas, oil, or other formation fluid into a wellbore that is under control and can be circulated out during drilling operations.
Gas Production
The impact gas production facilities have on the public continues to be of concern to the EUB. Fugitive emissions, noise from compressors, black smoke, and flaring are the primary issues affecting the public. In response there were 2170 inspections completed on gas processing facilities in 2002, which is a signification increase compared to 2001/2002, when 1710 inspections were conducted (see Figure 15). In 2002, EUB field staff conducted 105 inspections of well tests to ensure compliance with Guide 60: Upstream Petroleum Industry Flaring Guide. This compares to 122 inspections in 2001/2002.
Sulphur recovery efficiencies at gas plants recovering salable sulphur has improved to 98.9 per cent. Overall, sulphur emissions have decreased by 18 per cent since 2000 (from 78 000 to 64 000 tonnes of sulphur emissions).
Pipelines
Alberta has 317 417 km of energy-related pipeline. Of the 516 inspections conducted on pipeline failures/hits in 2002, the EUB recorded
- 46 major unsatisfactory inspections and 0 serious unsatisfactory inspectionsall were brought into compliance;
- 34 ruptures, compared to 32 in 2001/2002;
- a failure frequency of approximately 2.5 failures/1000 kma substantial improvement over the 1998 benchmark of 5 failures/1000 km;
- 66 contact damage incidents, down from 80 incidents in 2001/2002;
- 563 pipeline corrosion incidents, up from 503 in 2001/2002.
The number of major unsatisfactory inspections increased in 2002 due in part to the implementation of Guide 66: Pipeline Inspection Manual, which clarified EUB expectations for identifying and addressing corrosion problems. The increase in pipeline corrosion incidents is mainly attributed to the Swan Hills and Judy Creek Fields, where the pipeline systems had external coating problems due to increased product temperatures. The EUB met with the affected licensees and has approved their action plans for addressing the failures. The EUB will monitor the effectiveness of these action plans in 2003.
The EUB emphasizes reducing pipeline corrosion. We investigate 100 per cent of corrosion failures. As well, sensitive leak detection systems, training and awareness programs, automated shut-in equipment, and pipeline patrols (aerial and ground) being used by industry are working to reduce the effects of pipeline failures.
Spills
The EUB's goal is to minimize the environmental impacts of liquid releases (spills) by working cooperatively with industry and other government agencies.
- 100 per cent of all liquid releases that pose any kind of public safety or environmental threat are inspected. There were 26 such releases in 2002.
- More than 76.9 per cent of liquid releases were low volume, and most were contained on lease.
- 1445 liquid releases were reported in 2002, a slight increase from the 1434 in 2001/2002.
- Over the past five years, the volumes of hydrocarbon and produced water spills have steadily decreased. Spill volumes for hydrocarbon and produced water in 2002 were 5188.8 cubic metres (m3) and 19164.8 m3 respectively. This is a reduction from the 2001/2002 release volumes of 5877.3 m3 hydrocarbon and 19748.0 m3 produced water.
Air Monitoring
Field Surveillance uses two mobile air monitoring units to assist inspection staff in identifying facilities that emit fugitive emissions. In 2002, the EUB monitored 196 facilities for H2S and SO2 emissions, a considerable increase from the 28 facilities monitored in 2001. Industry is improving its compliance record in the area of air emissions from oil and gas facilities; for example, the percentage of unsatisfactory inspections went from 36 per cent in 2001 (10 unsatisfactory inspections out of 28) to 6 per cent from July to December 2002 (13 unsatisfactory inspections out of 227).
In addition to carrying out routine monitoring and responding to complaints, the mobile monitoring units are available for emergency response situations. In 2002, the air monitoring units responded to three emergency situations.
Responding to Public Concerns
One measure of the EUB's performance is our responsiveness to public complaints. Field Surveillance staff respond to all complaints within our jurisdiction. The focus is to ensure prompt, effective, and lasting resolution of any problem identified.
Although the activity level in the oil and gas industry remained high in 2002, there has been a downward trend in complaints, with 869 complaints in 2002, 12 fewer than 2001/2002. Of the individuals surveyed, 91 per cent were satisfied with the response from the EUB, compared to 90 per cent in 2001/2002.
The EUB receives complaints on a variety of issues (see Figure 4 for a distribution of complaints by issue). The most common issue is odours, with 372 odour complaints, 5 more than 2001/2002.
In 2002, Field Surveillance efforts to connect with the community included
- staff involvement totalling 540 daysup from 400 days in 2001/2002in 198 facilitations, of which 129 were successfully resolved, 44 are ongoing, and only 2 required hearings;
- open houses in Pincher Creek, Bonnyville, and Medicine Hat (attendance was 110, 166, and 110 respectively); and
- staff participation in most of the province's 56 active synergy groups.
The EUB strongly endorses the cooperative approach of synergy groups as an effective way to improve communication and identify and address issues.
Public Safety and Sour Gas
In January 2000, the EUB established a 22-member multistakeholder Advisory Committee on Public Safety and Sour Gas to review Alberta's sour gas regulatory system. The committee made a report of 87 recommendations, 12 of which specifically related to the Field Surveillance Branch's role.
Eight recommendations were completed in 2001/2002 and were incorporated into Field Surveillance inspection processes. One recommendation was acted on in 2002: Recommendation 65 to review air monitoring capability within the province. The remaining three will be completed in 2003.
For the purpose of this report, drilling activity includes spuds (new well starts) and re-entries into existing wells; it does not include completions of wells spudded in previous years.
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