Energy producers in Alberta, the main province producing oil in Canada, exceeded the self -imposed limit of the province in the annual wave of natural gas in 2024 for the second consecutive year, as shown by the reuters calculations.
At the end of last week, Alberta Energy Regulator said it was finishing the boundary limit. Reuters is the first to inform the change, which the regulator silently published in a newsletter on its website.
On Monday, the regulator confirmed the elimination of the limit and said it was responding to the direction of the provincial government.
Oil production is booming in Canada, producer number 4 of the world, which has been trying to diversify exports away from the United States since President Donald Trump assumed the position and began to impose tariffs on many Canadian exports.
Canadian energy companies expect Prime Minister Mark Carney to be more complacent for the industry than their predecessor Justin Trudeau.
For the first time, the Alberta oil and gas sector breached the limit of how much natural gas it is legally allowed to burn through bankruptcy. Andrew Chang breaks down what the break is, why the oil companies do so and the environmental impact.
A recount of Alberta Energy Regulator data shows that oil and gas producers in the province exploded approximately 912.7 million cubic meters of natural gas in 2024, exceeding the annual provincial limit of 670 million cubic meters by 36 percent.
The province had exceeded the limit in 2023, with regulatory data that show total flashes of flashes of 753 million cubic meters that year.
Break limit no longer applies
Filming is the practice of burning excess natural gas associated with oil production. If the volumes of gas by -products are small, and there are no nearby pipes to transport gas, companies often choose economic reasons to get rid of it through bankruptcy instead of capturing and storing it.
Eliminating the practice would reduce at least 381 million tons of equivalent carbon dioxide in environmentally harmful emissions released to the atmosphere, the World Bank said.
Ryan Fournier, spokesman for Alberta’s Minister of Environment, Rebecca Shulz, said in an email that the province launched a review of its Flare gas policy after the oil and gas industry exceeded the limit for the first time in 2023.
He said that the province determined that the 20 -year -old ablation limit no longer served as an effective policy to reduce coffination and that the ceiling did not take into account the highest oil production in the province or new emission reduction strategies.
The Federal Ministries of Energy and Environment did not immediately respond to the requests for comments.
Alberta crude oil production established a historical record in 2024 in 1,500 million barrels, a 4.5 percent increase over 2023.
A 2022 report from the Alberta Energy Regulator showed that surgical volumes in the province have increased since 2016.
Affirming increasing worldwide
A 2024 World Bank report, which has advocated a global purpose for the practice of bankruptcy routine by 2030, discovered that the bankruptcy of oil and gas companies worldwide increased seven percent by 2023 even when crude oil production increased only one percent at the same time.
While highlighting is better for the environment than some other gas elimination methods, such as ventilation, still releases a variety of greenhouse by -products and gas in the atmosphere, as well as the black soot that can be harmful to human health, said Amanda Bryant, oil and gas analyst for older people for clean energy tank, the Pembina Institute.
She said that companies have alternatives available to them, such as investing in equipment that can be used to capture flashes of flash at the site and redirect them to production again for use as fuel.
“Getting rid of the rule does not get rid of the problem,” Bryant said in an interview. “The role of a regulator should really be to avoid harmful impacts of the industry and ensure that our resources develop in a responsible way.”
