01 / CONTEXT
Before a reduction comes an understanding.
Methane reduction starts with a clear picture of what is happening in the field. Operators need to know what equipment they have, where emissions occur, and which interventions are technically and economically practical. Gathering that information across facilities is a substantial coordination and data challenge.
The Baseline and Reduction Opportunity Assessment Program, often called BROA, helped Alberta oil and gas operators assess their sites and identify methane reduction opportunities. Carbon Connect International delivered the program with funding from the Government of Alberta’s Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction fund. Denting the Universe provided software work for Carbon Connect International in support of the program.
02 / THE CHALLENGE
Turn field observations into information people can use.
An assessment can bring together facility and equipment inventories, leak detection, vent-flow measurements, gas composition and substantial collections of photographs and supporting documentation. Operators, service providers, technical reviewers and program administrators each need a different view of the work, yet the evidence must remain connected to the right project and facility.
The Government of Alberta’s original program specification called for a data-management tool to track assessment information and make appropriate subsets available to participating organizations and authorities. That specification illustrates the practical challenge of making field data useful to different participants.
03 / OUR WORK
Supporting the digital side of program delivery.
Denting the Universe developed software for Carbon Connect International to support application and assessment workflows. The portal organizes projects, operators and service providers through application review, offer acceptance, assessment submission and completion. Project requirements, files, sign-offs, history and communications provide the context needed to manage the work.
The platform supports importing and validating facility and emissions-source information. A separate prototype field application explores organizing projects, facilities and equipment, storing entered records in the browser and exporting data. Its production use has not been established.
By keeping field evidence connected to a project and its status, the system supports the handoff from assessment to program review. The workflow also represents assessment and completion incentive stages; payment decisions and administration remain with the program team.
ENGINEERING DETAIL
Make complex field evidence usable.
One emissions-source data model accommodates more than 100 possible fields across different equipment and source types—from identifiers and locations to operating conditions, detection methods, gas composition and emissions estimates. The challenge was not simply storing those values: different situations require different information, and records have to remain consistent with the facilities being assessed.
Import workflows check required values, formats, permitted choices, duplicate records and conditional relationships. For example, photo-related requirements and measurement fields can depend on the type of equipment or emissions source. This helps reviewers identify gaps and inconsistencies in complex submissions before the information is used for assessment.
The project workflow brings structured data together with uploaded files, photographic evidence, review history and sign-offs. Administrative export tools organize project information for review; after the appropriate release stage, the operator can access the final report and approved data. This turns a collection of technical observations and supporting material into a navigable record for the people responsible for decisions.
The work also connected the program to accounting processes and to reporting, exports and business-intelligence analysis. Assessment data and supporting evidence had to remain useful beyond a single project review, across the operational and analytical work of delivering the program.
04 / PROGRAM IN CONTEXT
Assessment at provincial scale.
The Government of Alberta reports that the program helped 141 operators lead 187 projects across 14,911 sites. It describes $15 million in program funding through the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction system. These are results of the overall program, not a claim that the software alone produced them.
For a program operating across many organizations and locations, the platform’s role is to keep the people, evidence and decisions connected. That experience carries directly into other assessment and funding workflows.
SOURCES
Further reading
Government of Alberta — methane programs and results ↗
Government of Alberta — original delivery agent selection ↗
Carbon Connect International — program overview ↗
Government of Alberta — original program delivery specification ↗