Science and Technology for Canadians

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Transcript of Video:

Narrator:
The sight of flames dancing from a drill rig or refinery is a common sight in any oil patch. Some of the brightest lights in the night sky are burning flares.
Flaring of unwanted gases - including methane - is a part of oil and gas production.
But Canadian research is helping to improve flaring and reduce its environmental impacts.

Super: Peter Gogolek, Team Leader - Flare Test Facility-Natural Resources Canada
“On a global scale, the public will benefit because of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Flares are all over the world.
Also the amount of gas flared is over a hundred billion cubic metres each year.
Which is the same as the natural gas consumption of France and Germany.”

Narrator:
Wind makes the performance of flares difficult to quantify.
To achieve this goal, the Government of Canada's Canmet Energy Technology Centre built the Flare Test Facility in Ottawa.
Under contract to the Petroleum Technology Alliance of Canada, this unique facility is able to test different sizes of nozzles for flaring efficiency.
It also tests how wind speed affects the flaring of waste fuels at off shore oil rigs, downstream refineries and chemical processors.
What about the alternatives to flaring? Other research is underway into powering turbines with the gas to create electricity.
The end goals are the same - cut greenhouse gas emissions, save money and protect the health of our environment.