Chris Romer describes himself as not only head of an ESG data company that he helped launch but also the leader of a broader movement across the oil and gas industry as well.

“The movement of Project Canary because we are a project and we welcome you to join us in giving the emissions ‘the bird,’” Romer, co-founder and CEO of Project Canary, recently told Hart Energy.

The company, Project Canary, is a Denver-based start-up at the heart of the responsibly sourced natural gas (RSG) push with a growing number of partnerships with companies across the upstream, midstream and utilities space to provide continuous emissions monitoring and independent RSG certification.

Earlier this month, PureWest Energy LLC, Wyoming’s largest natural gas producer, became the first company in the U.S. to provide a carbon-neutral RSG offering to customers as a result of a partnership with Project Canary. In addition to the Rockies, Project Canary has announced pilot projects across Appalachia, the Haynesville and the Permian Basin.

“In different basins in the U.S., there are infrastructure issues [and], in other basins, there’s dry gas,” Romer said. “So, everybody needs to think through where they’re at and take very seriously that we truly need to give emissions ‘the bird,’ meaning what we really need to do is to stop it all and keep it in the pipe.”

What goes into that pipe over time will probably change, according to Romer who said he sees more renewable natural gas, responsibly sourced gas as well as responsibly sourced aviation fuel being added to the mix in the future.

“We need to lower the carbon footprint as low as we can while keeping dense energy to run our great economy,” he said. “Those two things can be done together and the way to do it is to measure it at each step of the way.”

During the discussion, Romer also spoke about the role Project Canary will play in what he calls the industry’s future “regenerative cycle” to carbon plus his take on the upcoming COP26 summit where he said methane emissions will be a huge part of the conversation.

Of course, reducing emissions is at the heart of the Project Canary movement, which Romer encouraged everyone in the U.S.—both inside and outside the industry—to join.

“We’ve got the cleanest hydrocarbons on the planet,” he said. “We need to certify it and take 2 billion people out of energy poverty.”

Jump to a topic:

  • Project Canary intro (0:50)
  • Pathways to reduce emissions (2:40)
  • Project Canary partnerships (4:50)
  • Next step for RSG (6:35)
  • Responsibly sourced oil? (8:35)
  • Expectations from COP26 (11:00)

For more on the RSG movement check out the cover story “Responsibly Sourced” in the October 2021 issue of Oil and Gas Investor.

Oil and Gas Investor October 2021 Cover
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