Glossary of Terms
DEFINITIONS BASED ON THE 2006 BENCHMARKING GUIDE
Abandonment - involves capping of well and removal of underground infrastructure such that well is brought to a condition where it can be left indefinitely without further attention and will not impact groundwater resources, the environment or petroleum reservoirs.
Annual Certificate or Release Received (number/year) - the total number of sites that have received either a type of closure certificate or an equivalent recognition of release from the certifying authority in the jurisdiction at year end.
Benzene Emitted per Glycol Dehydrator (tonnes/# of dehydrators) - the annual gross weight of measured or estimated benzene emissions from glycol dehydrators [i.e., Triethylene Glycol (TEG), Diethylene Glycol (DEG), or Ethylene Glycol (EG)] divided by the number of TEG, DEG, and EG dehydrators that are operated as glycol dehydrators.
Benzene Emissions / Gas Production (tonnes/106m3) - the annual gross weight of measured or estimated benzene emissions from glycol dehydrators [i.e., Triethylene Glycol (TEG), Diethylene Glycol (DEG), or Ethylene Glycol (EG)] divided by the total volume of gas produced.
Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Equivalent - a unit of measure that accounts for a greenhouse gas "heating potential," or contribution to the Earth's greenhouse effect in terms of the amount of CO2 required to achieve the same heating potential.
Conventional Production - for Stewardship reporting includes production associated with the following regions/activities- onshore and offshore oil and gas production, but excludes production associated with in situ bitumen and oil sands mining and upgrading.
Contractor - any person employed by a contractor or sub-contractor engaged in providing goods or services directly to the reporting Company, and working in company premises, at corporate head office, field offices or at off-site locations where the company has primary control of the work site.
Cumulative Active Operated Wells - total number of operated wells including production, service, or observation wells that have reported production or injection at year end.
Cumulative Inactive Operated Wells - total number of wells where crude oil or natural gas production, water or gas injection have not occurred at any point during the reporting year.
Cumulative Abandoned Operated Wells - total number of formerly producing, service, observation, or exploration wells where surface and down hole abandonment has been completed (as prescribed by the relevant regulatory authority), but no certificate or release has been received from relevant regulatory authority.
Cumulative Abandoned Wells in 'Active' Reclamation/Remediation Phase - total number of formerly producing, service, observation, or exploration wells where abandonment is complete and 'active' reclamation has started. 'Active' reclamation includes physical work at the abandoned site, specifically, decommissioning, decontamination/remediation, recontouring, stabilization, decompaction, soil replacement and revegetation.
Cumulative Abandoned Wells in Monitoring/Assessment or Application Phase - total number of abandoned wells, where 'active' reclamation and remediation is complete - (i.e., next phase involves monitoring and assessment, and administration-related tasks needed to obtain a reclamation certificate).
Employee - any individual engaged in company activities and paid directly by the reporting Company, including new hires on probation, and some unpaid individuals (e.g., government sponsored interns or co-op students under direct company supervision) working in corporate head office, field offices, and at exploration and production field operation.
Employee Profile - the number of employees working in the company segregated by location of their principal place of work or "operational region." Operational regions include B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Northern Canada and Atlantic Canada. Alberta is further subdivided into Calgary, Oil Sands and other regions.
Exposure Hours - includes the actual or estimated hours worked by persons employed by the reporting Company or engaged through a contract, subcontract or purchase order in company work-related activities.
Flaring - the controlled burning of natural gas at an oil or natural gas well, gathering station or facility.
GHG Emissions - Direct - greenhouse gas emissions arising from fuel consumption and operational activities occurring on-site for the purposes of oil and natural gas exploration and production. Direct GHG emissions include: fuels burned to generate on-site heat and electricity, as well as emissions associated with transportation activities within the operating boundaries (for oil sands mining activity).
GHG Emissions - Indirect - greenhouse gas emissions arising from purchased electricity or heat from utilities, third-party private producers and other activities occurring off-site for the purposes of oil and natural gas exploration and production.
GHGs Emitted / Conventional Oil and Gas Production (tonnes/m3OE) - the total (gross) weight of direct and indirect GHGs expressed as tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted from all oil and gas production activities or facilities other than oil sands operations, per cubic metre of oil equivalent production.
GHGs Emitted / In situ Production (tonnes/m3OE) - the total (gross) weight of direct and indirect GHGs expressed as tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted from in situ production (only) activities, per cubic metre of oil equivalent production.
GHGs Emitted / Bitumen Mined and Upgraded Production (tonnes/m3OE) - the total (gross) weight of direct and indirect GHGs expressed as tonnes of CO2 equivalent emitted from mined and upgraded oil sands activities (only), per cubic metre of oil equivalent production.
Leak - an opening, crack or hole in a pipeline causing some product to be released, but not immediately impairing the operation of the pipeline Lost Time Injury (LTI) - a job-related fatality or injury that renders a worker unable to return to work on the next scheduled workday.
Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF) - the number of lost time injuries (fatalities + permanent total disabilities + lost workday cases) per 200,000 hours worked.
Nitrogen Oxides - nitrogen oxides (NOx) represent the sum of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) expressed as NO2 equivalent.
NOx emitted / Oil Sands Production (tonnes/103m3OE) - the total (gross) weight of NOx (expressed as NO2) emitted by oil sands facilities above NPRI reporting threshold divided by the total volume of oil equivalent production associated with oil sands production.
Non-Saline Water - CAPP Stewardship employs the Alberta Environment definition of non-saline, which is any water that contains less than 4,000 parts per million (ppm) of total dissolved solids. Non-saline water can be used for agricultural purposes, such as irrigation or livestock watering, or where appropriate, human consumption.
Non-Saline Surface Water/Groundwater Diverted For Use Under License (103m3 /yr) - the annual licensed and metered volume of non-saline water diverted from surface water sources or subsurface formations for use in facilities (domestic, utility, and processing) or oil sands production and processing.
Non-Saline Surface Water/Groundwater Injected For Production (103m3 /yr) - the annual volume of non-saline surface water or groundwater injected into producing formations to facilitate production (i.e., enhanced oil recovery or steam-injection).
Normalization Factors - to facilitate comparisons between years, absolute or raw benchmarking data is normalized or represented as a ratio between the absolute value and an appropriate normalization factor. The normalization factors used included production, exposure hours and operated pipeline length. For all indicators, ONLY companies who reported both the numerator and denominator of the given normalized indicator were included in the industry benchmark.
