Crestone to monitor air quality at oil and natural gas production sites

American oil and natural gas producer Crestone Peak Resources has announced plans to install air quality monitors at all of its production assets across the US state of Colorado.

The US-based operator said that the project would be the first by an exploration and production company to commit to continuous emissions testing at most of its production sites.

The move is aimed at improving air quality while providing assurance of the company’s capability to safely produce energy.

For this project, the company has partnered with Project Canary and the Payne Institute for Public Policy at Colorado School of Mines.

The pilot project is designed to demonstrate the value of using advanced technology to monitor emissions and improve air quality.

Another major objective of the pilot is to collect environmental data, which may reduce methane intensity and emissions from natural gas and oil production operations.

Crestone Environmental, Health, Safety and Regulatory vice-president David Stewart said: “This large-scale pilot programme will offer further proof-of-concept for the Project Canary monitoring technology, which we believe represents a significant step forward in our industry’s ability to ensure we’re producing the energy that we all use every day in a safe, clean and responsible manner.”

Crestone initially plans to deploy Project Canary monitoring technology later this month on well sites which represent about 80% of the company’s production.

Data collection would commence once the technology is in place.

Crestone mentioned that it has been successfully testing the Project Canary technology on individual well sites in Weld County since November 2019.

Project Canary president and co-founder Chris Romer said: “As a B-Corp, Project Canary is accountable to the double-bottom-line of profit and social good. We are excited about this partnership and thrilled to be selected to participate in Crestone’s proactive efforts for strengthening the energy industry’s transparency and sustainability in Colorado.”

In November 2013, Colorado regulators proposed new air quality rules to make the state the first to directly regulate detection and reduction of methane emissions that are associated with oil and gas drilling.