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TWG and Verification Advisory Group Comments on the First Draft of the Oil and Gas Production Sector Addendum to the General Verification Protocol. Oral Presentation July 22, 2009 Presented by: Science Applications International Corporation Presented for: Western Regional Air Partnership.
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TWG and Verification Advisory Group Comments on the First Draft of the Oil and Gas Production Sector Addendum to the General Verification Protocol Oral Presentation July 22, 2009 Presented by: Science Applications International Corporation Presented for: Western Regional Air Partnership
Presentation Overview • Brief overview of comments • Detailed summary of comments on major verification issues: • Conflicts of Interest • Guidance for Selecting Sample Sizes
Brief Overview of Comments • Comments were received from 8 individuals, representing 8 organizations, including: • 1 industry organization • TCR • 6 members of TCR’s Verification Advisory Group (and Registry-recognized verification bodies) • Total number of comments: 25 • Approximately one-third were of an editorial nature or simply indicated that the addendum adequately addressed a specific issue • Remaining comments (about 15) dealing with higher-level issues are the primary focus of the remainder of this presentation
Major Verification Issues • Verification Question: Is the generic guidance for selecting an appropriate sample size provided in the GVP applicable to the O&G sector? • It is not appropriate to treat each field as a single facility when selecting the sample of sites to be visited, as the variety of sources included in a field is too broad • The sample size should remain as is unless TCR has reason to believe this sector is more prone to errors (in which case the sample size should be increased) • In the UK we tend to apply a lower ratio of onsite visits because the data is centrally located • SAIC Question for TWG: Are the data generally centrally located in N. America? • In the UK there are often difficulties arranging visits to offshore facilities due to health and safety issues, and transportation availability • SAIC Question for TWG: Would these difficulties also apply in N. American offshore operations? • If contractors find out they will be included in the sampling plan, I doubt they will be willing to provide data • TCR should provide guidance on the percent of wells to be included in the sample size
Major Verification Issues • Verification Question: Do the standard COI rules in the GVP need to be expanded to address, e.g., the verifier’s relationships with partners of the TCR Member? • It will be near impossible to find a verifier without any relationships with JV partners • Care must be taken not to reduce the limited pool of verifiers unless the risk of COI is high • The standard COI rules should be fine, but the verifier should declare any relationship with other consortium members to enable TCR to make a judgment • The COI rules for consortium-type situations should be as stringent as possible, given that cap and trade is coming in the future • The COI rules need to be expanded, as major emission decisions may be based on TCR data—but am not sure how the verifier creates conflict, is the fear that that a verifier would pass on confidential info from one company to another? • If Scope 3 emissions are to be verified, relationships with contractors should be included in COI determination • It’s probably not practicable to have a separate verifier for each consortium member, instead recommend a minimum of two verifiers whenever there are multiple owner/operators