Businesses in the oil and gas industry are wrongly painted as evil. While former practices of the industry have recently been discovered as harmful, companies in the field are taking this feedback and improving their work in every conceivable way. News out of Canada indicates just how far the oil and gas industry has come, with the nation’s exploration and production (E&P) companies and cleantech startups leading the charge in greener, more sustainable efforts.
For instance, upwards of 95 percent of water used in the oil extraction process is recycled each year. However, cleantech company Imaginea is innovating the extraction process with its Clean Hydrocarbon Ecosystem, which requires no fresh water and emits no air pollution.
There’s also HD-Petroleum in Manitoba. This company developed small-scale waste-oil micro-refinery units that convert used oil into diesel fuel. This method for recycling used oil significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to other methods of oil disposal.
Currently, the cleantech industry in Canada ranks fourth-highest in the world and first in the G20. Furthermore, the Canadian government is investing $700 million in cleantech over the next five years. Cleantech businesses account for 3.1 percent of the country’s GDP, which translates into $59.3 billion.
Another reason oil and gas businesses develop negative reputations is due to lack of transparency. This is why GHGSat, a Montreal-based business, tracks the greenhouse gas emissions of industrial sites around the world using high-resolution satellite imagery. E&P companies can use the data captured by GHGSat to develop a better understanding of their greenhouse gas emissions so they can control and reduce them in the future. With this information, the oil and gas industry can more accurately report on and discuss important environmental topics with the public.
It is these shining examples that demonstrate how just how dedicated the oil and gas industry is to the cause of environmentalism. Imaginea, HD-Petroleum, and GHGSat are just three of the businesses revolutionizing how the oil and gas industry approaches environmental issues.
In countries around the world, not just in Canada, oil and gas organizations are working tirelessly to innovative, streamline, and improve methods. These massive investments in green technologies indicate the lengths at which oil and gas businesses are willing to go to create a better world for everyone.