Two of the top natural gas producers in the Lower 48, Southwestern Energy Co. and Range Resources Corp., are expanding their efforts to certify supply in separate agreements with Project Canary.
In one agreement, Range Resources entered into an ongoing deal with Houston-based Engie Energy Marketing to market its supply under Project Canary’s responsibly sourced gas (RSG) designation.
Denver-based Project Canary partnered with Range last June to certify some of its southwestern Pennsylvania supply on two pads using the TrustWell process, which measures emissions and conditions under which natural gas is produced, with a focus on water, air, land and the community.
A spokesperson for Engie Energy told NGI that the company’s “involvement in the RSG space has generated much interest from a variety of buyers domestically and globally.”
Engie Energy, a subsidiary of France’s Engie SA, said it would market Range’s RSG digitally on The Energy Origin (TEO). Engie’s downstream customers would be able access TEO to track their energy purchases to the source. In 2020, Engie said it achieved 57 Bcf in sales across the United States, supplying gas to 14 states through dozens of distributors.
Range CEO Jeff Ventura called natural gas “part of the global solution to meeting growing energy needs while helping to reduce overall carbon emissions. Our natural gas is produced with a focus on environmental responsibility and transparency.”
In the final quarter of 2021, Range’s Lower 48 production averaged about 1.5 Bcf/d, down from 2.1 Bcfe/d in the year-ago period.
In its expanded agreement with Project Canary, Houston-based Southwestern said additional certifications in the Haynesville Shale are projected to bring its total gross-operated RSG production to more than 5 Bcfe/d.
Southwestern first reached an agreement last June with Project Canary to monitor emissions and certify RSG from all wells in Appalachia. The company is active across 789,000 net acres in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, making it the country’s third largest natural gas producer.
In updating its company-wide RSG certification, Southwestern wants to add its newly established Haynesville Shale position following its acquisition of GEP Haynesville LLC last month.
“The ability to monitor emissions from our operations at the pad level is a clear differentiator and will allow SWN to efficiently and effectively reduce emissions,” said Southwestern CEO Bill Way.
With the Haynesville acquisition, Southwestern added 700 drilling locations across the Haynesville with an estimated 2.2 Tcfe of proved reserves. The certification for the Haynesville operations is expected to be complete by the end of 2022, while the Appalachia certifications will be finalized in March.
Canary Calling In The Rockies
Meanwhile, Tallgrass Energy (TGE) has an agreement with Project Canary to take on a project to monitor and verify sequestered carbon dioxide (CO2) at its Eastern Wyoming Sequestration project.
TGE plans to drill a characterization well for which Project Canary would deploy its Canary X continuous emissions monitoring units. The units would help to verify that carbon dioxide volumes remain sequestered, detecting any potential leaks that could be reported to a cloud-based monitoring dashboard.
“Precise measurement and validation of sequestered volumes is a critical component of a successful, commercial-scale CO2 sequestration hub,” said TGE’s Kyle Quackenbush, segment president.
TGE began its partnership with Project Canary in mid-2021 when the companies announced that the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) would be the nation’s first certified interstate natural gas transmission system.
“Advancing assessment across the entire energy value chain – from upstream production to midstream transportation and ultimately sequestration – has the potential to revolutionize decarbonization efforts and accelerate progress toward net-zero,” said Project Canary CEO Chris Romer.
