What is MiQ Certification?
MiQ is a voluntary certification standard launched by Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and SystemIQ to facilitate a rapid reduction in methane emissions from the oil and gas sector. During MiQ certification, natural gas from a certified unit is graded from A-F based on methane emissions levels and methane management practices used across the natural gas supply chain.
For MiQ certification, Gas Mapping LiDAR (GML) provides best-in-class emissions monitoring and quantification, helping operators achieve an "A" grade under the MiQ Standard.
MiQ Key Features
Certification Type:
A voluntary certification program for operators to demonstrate low methane intensity of certified natural gas and improved methane emissions management practices and policies used for operations across the natural gas supply chain. Certification through this initiative is performed by independent auditing services and is done at the basin level. After asset group certification, certificates for natural gas to sales or throughput are issued monthly in MiQ’s digital registry. These certificates can also be transferred into exchanges.
Criteria:
The MiQ standard evaluates methane intensity, the deployment of monitoring technology at facility and source levels, and company policies and practices for methane emissions management.
Timeline:
The certification timeline for operators is dependent on the operator’s existing compliance with the requirements of the Standard. MiQ encourages operators to perform a gap analysis prior to undergoing certification and provides operators with the same checklists that auditors use to conduct the official certification process.
Recertification of an asset group is performed annually. Certificates issued for natural gas from a certified Facility (certifiable asset base) are posted on MiQ’s Digital Registry every month and can be sold to certified gas buyers either through bilateral contracts or exchanges.
Industry Segments:
MiQ Certification is applicable to the following segments of the natural gas value chain:
- Onshore production
- Offshore production
- Gathering and boosting
- Processing
- Transmission and Storage
- LNG
How Bridger Photonics’ Gas Mapping LiDAR Can Be Used for MiQ Certification
Emissions Monitoring
GML exceeds the requirements for facility-scale monitoring technology. It is over eight times more sensitive than the facility-scale technology requirement and resolves methane gas plumes at the equipment scale.
The MiQ “A” grade requires a baseline leak detection and repair (LDAR) program consisting of quarterly facility-scale scans using a technology with at least 90% probability of detecting emissions at 25 kg/h in addition to quarterly infrastructure scans using a source-level technology (e.g., OGI). Because GML exceeds the facility-scale technology performance baseline, operators can achieve certification with an emissions monitoring program that has reduced frequency of source-level and/or facility-scale infrastructure scans if their alternative monitoring program is expected to provide at least equivalent emissions mitigation compared to baseline requirements. Typically, LDAR programs are compared using emissions simulation programs like FEAST, LDAR-Sim, and AroFEMP.
Methane Intensity
Under the MiQ standard, if an emission factor-based methane emissions inventory is used for calculating methane intensity, it is necessary to reconcile emissions detected during LDAR surveys with the existing inventory and add the detected emissions sources to the inventory if they are not accounted for already. GML’s equipment-scale emission source resolution streamlines causal examination so that emissions can be readily attributed. Meanwhile, GML’s quantification capabilities make it easy to add emission sources into your inventory.
GML measurement data can also be used to generate measurement-based inventories under the Veritas protocol and as part of OGMP 2.0 level 5 reporting. Both of these emissions accounting approaches are allowed under the MiQ standard.
Technology Documentation
Bridger provides the documents on GML technology that are required to be submitted for MiQ certification. Bridger’s GML technology has been extensively evaluated through single-blind and fully blind controlled released testing in addition to being applied towards numerous field studies.
Joint Certification
There is also an MiQ and EO100™ joint natural gas certification available. Certification through EO100 (or the MiQ and EO100 joint certification) allows operators the opportunity to potentially sell their certified natural gas at a premium.
Learn More About MiQ Certification
Use Gas Mapping LiDAR to Certify Your Emissions through MiQ
To learn more about how Gas Mapping LiDAR can help you reach "A" grade certification through MiQ, contact us.