Published

OGC Best Practice

•
OGC Integrated Methane Sensor Web for Emissions Management Best Practice - Part I - Fugitive Emissions Management based on AER Directive 60
Steve Liang Editor
Submission Date: 2021-11-19 Approval Date: 2022-02-21 Publication Date: 2022-07-13 External identifier of this OGC® document: http://www.opengis.net/doc/BP/imsw-fm-aer60/1.0 Internal identifier of this OGC® document: 21-070
Version: 1.0
Additional Formats: XML PDF DOC
OGC Best Practice

Published

Notice

This document defines an OGC Best Practice on a particular technology or approach related to an OGC standard. This document is not an OGC Standard and may not be referred to as an OGC Standard. It is subject to change without notice. However, this document is an official position of the OGC membership on this particular technology topic.

Recipients of this document are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are aware and to provide supporting documentation.

Document number:21-070
Document type:OGC Best Practice
Document subtype:General
Document stage:Published
Document language:English

Copyright notice

Copyright © 2022 Open Geospatial Consortium
To obtain additional rights of use, visit http://www.ogc.org/legal/

Note

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. The Open Geospatial Consortium shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Recipients of this document are requested to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent claims or other intellectual property rights of which they may be aware that might be infringed by any implementation of the standard set forth in this document, and to provide supporting documentation.


License Agreement

Permission is hereby granted by the Open Geospatial Consortium, (“Licensor”), free of charge and subject to the terms set forth below, to any person obtaining a copy of this Intellectual Property and any associated documentation, to deal in the Intellectual Property without restriction (except as set forth below), including without limitation the rights to implement, use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, and/or sublicense copies of the Intellectual Property, and to permit persons to whom the Intellectual Property is furnished to do so, provided that all copyright notices on the intellectual property are retained intact and that each person to whom the Intellectual Property is furnished agrees to the terms of this Agreement.

If you modify the Intellectual Property, all copies of the modified Intellectual Property must include, in addition to the above copyright notice, a notice that the Intellectual Property includes modifications that have not been approved or adopted by LICENSOR.

THIS LICENSE IS A COPYRIGHT LICENSE ONLY, AND DOES NOT CONVEY ANY RIGHTS UNDER ANY PATENTS THAT MAY BE IN FORCE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IS PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR HOLDERS INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE FUNCTIONS CONTAINED IN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WILL MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS OR THAT THE OPERATION OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR FREE. ANY USE OF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY SHALL BE MADE ENTIRELY AT THE USER’S OWN RISK. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR ANY CONTRIBUTOR OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS TO THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, OR ANY DIRECT, SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM ANY ALLEGED INFRINGEMENT OR ANY LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION, USE, COMMERCIALIZATION OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY.

This license is effective until terminated. You may terminate it at any time by destroying the Intellectual Property together with all copies in any form. The license will also terminate if you fail to comply with any term or condition of this Agreement. Except as provided in the following sentence, no such termination of this license shall require the termination of any third party end-user sublicense to the Intellectual Property which is in force as of the date of notice of such termination. In addition, should the Intellectual Property, or the operation of the Intellectual Property, infringe, or in LICENSOR’s sole opinion be likely to infringe, any patent, copyright, trademark or other right of a third party, you agree that LICENSOR, in its sole discretion, may terminate this license without any compensation or liability to you, your licensees or any other party. You agree upon termination of any kind to destroy or cause to be destroyed the Intellectual Property together with all copies in any form, whether held by you or by any third party.

Except as contained in this notice, the name of LICENSOR or of any other holder of a copyright in all or part of the Intellectual Property shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in this Intellectual Property without prior written authorization of LICENSOR or such copyright holder. LICENSOR is and shall at all times be the sole entity that may authorize you or any third party to use certification marks, trademarks or other special designations to indicate compliance with any LICENSOR standards or specifications. This Agreement is governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The application to this Agreement of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods is hereby expressly excluded. In the event any provision of this Agreement shall be deemed unenforceable, void or invalid, such provision shall be modified so as to make it valid and enforceable, and as so modified the entire Agreement shall remain in full force and effect. No decision, action or inaction by LICENSOR shall be construed to be a waiver of any rights or remedies available to it.

None of the Intellectual Property or underlying information or technology may be downloaded or otherwise exported or reexported in violation of U.S. export laws and regulations. In addition, you are responsible for complying with any local laws in your jurisdiction which may impact your right to import, export or use the Intellectual Property, and you represent that you have complied with any regulations or registration procedures required by applicable law to make this license enforceable.



I.  Abstract

Methane (CH4) is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, and the comparative impact of methane is 25 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period. Methane is an invisible and odorless gas, and it is very labor intensive and time consuming in order to detect and repair leaks. Regulations play a critical role in methane emissions reduction, and how methane emissions are detected, repaired, and managed is highly dependent on local regulations. This OGC Best Practice document defines a SensorThings API for fugitive methane emissions management.

II.  Keywords

The following are keywords to be used by search engines and document catalogues.

ogcdoc, OGC document, sensor web, API, methane, methane emissions, Internet of Things, SensorThings, climate change


III.  Preface

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. The Open Geospatial Consortium shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Recipients of this document are requested to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent claims or other intellectual property rights of which they may be aware that might be infringed by any implementation of the standard set forth in this document, and to provide supporting documentation.

IV.  Security considerations

No security considerations have been made for this document.

V.  Submitting Organizations

The following organizations submitted this Document to the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC):

VI.  Submitters

All questions regarding this submission should be directed to the editor or the submitters:

Name Affliation
Steve Liang SensorUp Inc./University of Calgary
John Tang TC Energy
Patrick Kelly TC Energy
Sara Saeedi University of Calgary
Sina Kiaei University of Calgary
Hylke van der Schaaf Fraunhofer IOSB

The editor would like to acknowledge that this work is the result of collaboration and review of many organizations and would like to thank for the comments and contributions from:

Note: this does not imply a complete endorsement by these organizations.

OGC Integrated Methane Sensor Web for Emissions Management Best Practice - Part I - Fugitive Emissions Management based on AER Directive 60

1.  Scope

Methane (CH4) is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, and the comparative impact of methane is 25 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period [9]. Methane is an invisible and odorless gas, and it is very labor intensive and time consuming in order to detect and repair leaks. Current methane emission management solutions are fragmented and developed without standards, ultimately leading to a complex network of incompatible sensing solutions that need to interrelate but do not. However, no single methane sensing technology can meet the accuracy, spatio-temporal resolution, and low-cost requirements. There is a need to interconnect the heterogeneous existing and emerging methane sensing technologies, ranging from satellites, drones, fixed-wing aircraft, vehicle-based systems, and continuous in-situ monitoring stations to handheld Optical Gas Imaging (OGI) devices. An effective methane emissions management solution requires an integrated methane sensor web. OGC Sensor Web Enablement (SWE) provides the fundamental standard building blocks for the integrated methane sensor web [13].

Examples of methane measurement platforms

Figure 1 — Examples of methane measurement platforms operating across a variety of spatial and temporal scales. (After: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine [1])

This OGC Best Practice (OGC BP) document defines a SensorThings API for fugitive methane emissions management. Regulations play a critical role in methane emissions reduction, and how methane emissions are detected, repaired, and managed is highly dependent on local regulations. This OGC BP is designed based on the Alberta Energy Regulator’s regulatory requirement for fugitive emissions management AER Directive 60 [2].

This Best Practice document provides a data model and API for the exchange of fugitive emissions observation data and the necessary metadata, both within and between different organizations. For example, it can be used for leak detection and to enable repair service providers to prepare and exchange fugitive emissions observation data with facility operators. Facility operators can also use this Best Practice to facilitate the exchange of fugitive emissions data within their organizations and with regulators.

Venting and combustion methane emissions are out of scope of this OGC Best Practice document. The development of an OGC Best Practice document for venting emissions and combustion emissions is on the roadmap.

1.1.  Roadmap

This OGC Best Practice document is the first part of the OGC Integrated Methane Sensor Web for Emissions Management Series of Best Practice documents. The editors plan to publish a series of Best Practice documents for methane emissions management, ranging from data sources (e.g., different types of sensing systems) to data destinations (e.g., fugitive and venting emissions for regulatory reporting). The goal is to develop the building blocks for an integrated Methane Emissions Sensor Web, enabling seamless flows of observation data between various nodes: from SensorThings nodes with heterogeneous sensing sources (i.e., multiple disparate methane observation systems), to SensorThings nodes with analytics-ready data (i.e., an aggregated methane emissions datalake), and eventually to SensorThings nodes with compliance-ready data (i.e., data compliant to various regulatory organizations in different jurisdictions).

The figure below shows the roadmap of the different OGC Best Practice documents to be developed and their relationship.

Integrated Methane Sensor Web Roadmap

Figure 2 — Integrated Methane Sensor Web Best Practice Roadmap

1.2.  Design Goals

This OGC Best Practice document and its series have the following design goals:

  1. Modularity: different parts of a methane emissions management system can be separated and reassembled, benefiting flexibility, future-proof, and variety in use;

  2. Simplicity: the design is concise, easily testable, easy to implement, and developer-friendly;

  3. Interoperability: whenever possible, it follows international open standards;

  4. Scalability: it is able to grow in terms of the number of sensors, types of sensors, and volume of data without sacrificing performance.

2.  Conformance

This OGC Best Practice document defines a SensorThings API for fugitive methane emissions management based on the Alberta Energy Regulator’s regulatory requirement for fugitive emissions management AER Directive 60 (2021).

Conformance with this OGC Best Practice document shall be checked using all the relevant tests specified in Annex A (normative) of this document.

All requirements classes and conformance classes described in this document are owned by the document(s) identified.

The following table lists the requirements classes defined in this OGC Best Practice document.

NOTE  The text in the Requirements class id and Requirements columns in the following table is the path fragment that, when appended to the URI: http://www.opengis.net/spec/imsw-fm-aer60/1.0, provides the URI that can be used to unambiguously identify the requirement and the conformance class.

Table 1 — List of the requirements classes defined in this OGC Best Practice document

Requirements class id Requirements Description

/req/datamodel/thing

  • /req/datamodel/thing/properties

  • /req/datamodel/thing/relations

Thing entity

/req/datamodel/location

  • /req/datamodel/location/properties

  • /req/datamodel/location/relations

Location entity

/req/datamodel/datastream

  • /req/datamodel/datastream/number-of-fugitive-emissions-properties

  • /req/datamodel/datastream/number-of-fugitive-emissions-relations

  • /req/datamodel/datastream/fugitive-emissions-volume-properties

  • /req/datamodel/datastream/fugitive-emissions-volume-relations

  • /req/datamodel/datastream/fugitive-emissions-mass-properties

  • /req/datamodel/datastream/fugitive-emissions-mass-relations

Datastream entity

/req/datamodel/observed-property

  • /req/datamodel/observed-property/properties

ObservedProperty entity

/req/datamodel/observation

  • /req/datamodel/observation/properties

Observation entity

/req/datamodel/feature-of-interest

  • /req/datamodel/feature-of-interest/properties

FeatureOfInterest entity

/req/datamodel/sensor

  • /req/datamodel/sensor/properties

Sensor entity

3.  Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

ISO: ISO 8601:2004, Data elements and interchange formats — Information interchange — Representation of dates and times. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva (2004). https://www.iso.org/standard/40874.html

Simon Cox: OGC 10-004r3, Topic 20 — Observations and Measurements. Open Geospatial Consortium (2010). https://portal.ogc.org/files/?artifact_id=41579

Steve Liang, Tania Khalafbeigi, Hylke van der Schaaf: OGC 18-088, OGC SensorThings API Part 1: Sensing Version 1.1. Open Geospatial Consortium (2021). https://docs.ogc.org/is/18-088/18-088.html

OASIS: OData Version 4.0 Part 1: Protocol Plus Errata 02. Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (2014). https://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/errata02/os/complete/part1-protocol/odata-v4.0-errata02-os-part1-protocol-complete.html

OASIS: OData Version 4.0 Part 2: URL Conventions Plus Errata 02. Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (2014). https://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata/v4.0/errata02/os/complete/part2-url-conventions/odata-v4.0-errata02-os-part2-url-conventions-complete.html

OASIS: OData JSON Format Version 4.0 Plus Errata 02. Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (2014). https://docs.oasis-open.org/odata/odata-json-format/v4.0/errata02/os/odata-json-format-v4.0-errata02-os-complete.html

OASIS: OData ABNF Construction Rules Errata 02. Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (2014)

N. Freed, N. Borenstein: RFC 2046, Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types. Internet Engineering Task Force (1996). https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2046

R. Fielding, J. Gettys, J. Mogul, H. Frystyk, L. Masinter, P. Leach, T. Berners-Lee: RFC 2616, Hypertext Transfer Protocol — HTTP/1.1. Internet Engineering Task Force (1999). https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2616

D. Crockford: RFC 4627, The application/json Media Type for JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). Internet Engineering Task Force (2006). https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc4627

H. Butler, M. Daly, A. Doyle, S. Gillies, S. Hagen, T. Schaub: RFC 7946, The GeoJSON Format. Internet Engineering Task Force (2016). https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7946

UCUM: Unified Code for Units of Measure (UCUM) – Version 1.9, April 2015

4.  Terms, definitions and abbreviated terms

This document uses the terms defined in OGC Policy Directive 49, which is based on the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2, Rules for the structure and drafting of International Standards. In particular, the word “shall” (not “must”) is the verb form used to indicate a requirement to be strictly followed to conform to this document and OGC documents do not use the equivalent phrases in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2.

This document also uses terms defined in the OGC Standard for Modular specifications (OGC 08-131r3), also known as the ‘ModSpec’. The definitions of terms such as standard, specification, requirement, and conformance test are provided in the ModSpec.

For the purposes of this document, the following additional terms and definitions apply.

4.1.  Terms and definitions

4.1.1. Facility ID

A unique facility identification code, with 4 letters and 7 numbers (e.g., ABWP1234567), assigned by Petrinex to each facility (Source: AER Directive 60 [2]).

4.1.2. Fugitive Emissions

Unintentional releases of hydrocarbons to the atmosphere (Source: AER Directive 60 [2]).

4.1.3. Fugitive Emissions Screenings

Site-wide evaluations where the primary purpose is to identify fugitive emissions (e.g., from open thief hatches). These are less comprehensive than fugitive emission surveys (Source: AER Directive 60 [2]).

4.1.4. Fugitive Emission Surveys

Site-wide evaluations that use equipment-based methods to detect and identify sources of fugitive emissions for repair. These surveys are considered comprehensive evaluations that can assist in reducing both small volumes and large volumes of fugitive emissions (Source: AER Directive 60 [2]).

4.1.5. Petrinex

Canada’s Petroleum Information Network

4.1.6. Site

The area defined by the boundaries of a surface lease for upstream oil and gas facilities and wells (pads counted as one lease) (Source: AER Directive 60 [2]).

4.1.7. Leak

A release of hydrocarbons from an equipment component is a leak if:

  • (a) the release consists of at least 500 ppmv of hydrocarbons, as determined by an inspection conducted by means of an eligible portable monitoring instrument in accordance with EPA Method 21; or

  • (b) the release is detected

    • (i) during an inspection conducted by means of an eligible optical gas-imaging instrument, or

    • (ii) by means of an auditory method, an olfactory method or a visual method, including the observation of the dripping of hydrocarbon liquids from the equipment component.

(Source: Government of Canada [14])

4.1.8. Local Regulation

The federal regulations that apply to methane in the upstream oil and gas sector aim to control methane emissions and also reduce the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released into the air (Source: Environment and Climate Change Canada [6]).

4.1.9. Fugitive Emissions Management Program

A plan and supporting systems to systematically detect and manage fugitive emissions. Fugitive Emissions Management Programs are intended to complement a duty holder’s overall emissions reduction strategy (Source: AER Directive 60 [2]).

4.1.10. Vent Emission

The intentional controlled release of un-combusted gases directly to the atmosphere (Source: BC Oil and Gas Commission [5]).

4.2.  Abbreviated terms

AER

Alberta Energy Regulator

API

Application Programming Interface

ATS

Alberta Township Survey

BP

Best Practice

CH4

Methane

CNRL

Canadian Natural Resources

EPA

Environmental Protection Agency

FEM-STA

Fugitive Emissions Management — SensorThings API

FEMP

Fugitive Emissions Management Program

GPS

Global Positioning System

IANA

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

ID

Identity

JSON

JavaScript Object Notation

LDAR

Leak Detection and Repair

LSD

Legal Subdivisions

OGC

Open Geospatial Consortium

OGI

Optical Gas Imaging

STA

SensorThings API

SWE

Sensor Web Enablement

URI

Uniform Resource Identifier

VOC

Volatile Organic Carbon

5.  Conventions

This section provides details and examples for any conventions used in the document. Examples of conventions are symbols, abbreviations, use of XML schema, or special notes regarding how to read the document.

5.1.  Identifiers

The normative provisions in this document are denoted by the URI

http://www.opengis.net/spec/imsw-fm-aer60/1.0

All requirements and conformance tests that appear in this document are denoted by partial URIs which are relative to this base.

6.  Methane Emissions

Methane (CH4) is one of the most potent greenhouse gases, and the comparative impact of methane is 25 times greater than CO2 over a 100-year period [9]. Global anthropogenic methane emissions by 2020 are estimated to be 9,390 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent [17]. Approximately 50~60% of the anthropogenic methane emissions come from the following five sources: (1) agriculture (enteric fermentation-27% and manure management-3%), (2) oil and gas (24%), (3) municipal solid waste (11%), (4) coal mining (9%), and (5) wastewater (7%). Figure below shows a pie chart of the global estimated methane emissions sources in 2020.