SEER and IET partner to market V3RU technology in Canada

US firm Strategic Environmental & Energy Resources (SEER) has entered a partnership agreement with Canadian-based Innovative Energy Technologies to market its variable volume vapour recovery unit (V3RU) and V3RU Plus technologies in the country.

The V3RU technology is SEER company MV Technologies' patented and proprietary oilfield fugitive emission capture system.

In the early stages of the collaboration, the companies will focus on deploying the technologies in major oil and gas fields located in Western Canada, specifically the Lloydminster area.

The technology has been proven to reduce or completely eliminate harmful green-house-gas (GHG) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions at smaller wells (200m³ to 500m³ a day) without the need for electricity in the Colorado and Wyoming oil fields, according to SEER.

IET principal Wayne Hillier said: "Given the new GHG regulations in Alberta, and emerging regulations regarding odours, the patented SEER technologies offer an economic and compelling commercial solution for Western Canadian oil and gas producers.

“The systems are well suited to address the challenges with which the producers in the Lloydminster fields are being confronted as part of the growing cold heavy oil production with sand, or CHOPS.

“In addition to being an obvious benefit to the environment and making regulatory compliance immediately achievable, these solutions provide an opportunity at thousands of smaller and stranded wells to capture the low volume and intermittent methane and other VOC releases for beneficial use, including recovering the entrained liquids.

“They also present a source for sustained economic upside to the industry in the form of GHG credits."

The technologies will be marketed in two phases, with Phase I seeing the deployment of the V3RU systems and Phase II introducing the V3RU Plus system.

Both will be marketed through a newly formed joint venture Canadian company, in which 90% interest is owned by SEER and 10% by IET.