Alberta Methane Field Challenge

The Alberta Methane Field Challenge (AMFC) phase 1 and 2 was a field campaign conducted in 2019 to assess the performance of new methane leak detection and quantification technologies at producing oil and gas facilities.

Recent efforts to address methane emissions from upstream oil and gas operations have led to the development of new sensors, technologies, and platforms that promise faster and more cost-effective methane leak detection than existing approaches. Over the past twelve to eighteen months, several research studies in Canada and the US have evaluated mobile methane detection technologies (drone-, truck-, or plane-based) in controlled test conditions. While these studies are critical to understanding the performance parameters of new technologies, it is insufficient to address questions around their field deployment viability. The AMFC program was commissioned to address this critical gap in evaluation of new methane leak detection technologies.

Two separate field trials were conducted in 2019, one in June and the other in November. Each of the field trials consisted of approximately two weeks of testing across 50 oil and gas producing sites near Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. The 50 sites were selected by the AMFC’s science team based on several considerations including ease of access, site density to minimize travel time between sites, vegetation type, production, and resource characteristics.