AUPRF Upcoming Projects
Upcoming Projects
at a Glance
In 2026-27, AUPRF intends to put over $3 million to work in +15 new projects that are positioned to cut emissions, accelerate technology innovation and drive economic growth across Alberta’s Upstream Oil and Gas sector.
This year’s program is moving from research prioritization and competitive RFPs into project execution, with new projects launching alongside ongoing multi-year research and technical knowledge-sharing.
Funded by 300+ Alberta oil and gas producers, AUPRF turns applied research into practical solutions.
Air Research (ARPC)
| RFP Title | Project Objective | Why the work is important | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alternative Engine Emissions Testing Methodologies for Regulatory Compliance | Evaluate lower-cost NOx measurement methods and QA/QC frameworks to support defensible MSAPR compliance for stationary gaseous-fuel engines in Alberta operations. | Reduces compliance cost and operational disruption while preserving defensible NOx data quality for MSAPR-aligned stationary engine regulatory requirements. | $100,000 |
| MSAPR Cost-Benefit Assessment & Optimization (Data-Driven Design) | Assess MSAPR Part 2 cost-benefit drivers and identify data-driven optimization opportunities maintaining environmental integrity and compliance defensibility for producers Alberta. | Supports practical improvements to MSAPR Part 2 requirements by explaining cost drivers, identifying efficiencies and preserving environmental/compliance defensibility. | $100,000 |
| TBD - Placeholder for Methane related research |
The methane work has intentionally been deferred while regulatory requirements become clearer. The committee believes Summer 2026 would be appropriate to begin planning the next generation of methane research. Topics include:
|
Placeholder for projects that could help improve compliance while reducing implementation costs related to methane, AB-Ottawa MOU and equivalency agreement. | $400,000 |
Ecological Research (ERPC)
| RFP Title | Project Objective | Why the work is important | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disturbance Monitoring and Assessment for Active Management: Remote Sensing and Digital Decision Tools to Assess Disturbance Recovery and Trajectory | Develop remote-sensing and digital workflows to classify disturbance recovery trajectories for linear and polygonal features, supporting active land management decisions. | Improves defensible, repeatable disturbance recovery monitoring and supports restoration, access management, regulatory/stakeholder reporting and producer decision-making. | $125,000 |
| Caribou Habitat Enhancements or other Endangered Species research | Scope caribou habitat enhancement and species-at-risk research options that support recovery planning, disturbance mitigation and practical industry implementation pathways. | Supports evidence-based species recovery, habitat conservation and land-use planning while helping industry understand practical mitigation expectations and implementation options. | $175,000 |
Remediation Reclamation Research (RRRC)
| RFP Title | Project Objective | Why the work is important | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Identifying Opportunities to Improve Contaminated Site Closure Outcomes in Alberta - Evidence-Based Review of Tools, Pathways, and Decision Processes and Practical Implementation Opportunities | Review closure tools and pathways to improve contaminated-site closure efficiency, consistency, risk-based decisions and outcomes for constrained Alberta sites statewide. | Addresses difficult or stalled contaminated-site closures by identifying practical opportunities to reduce timelines, administrative burden and over-remediation. | $80,000 |
| Assessment of Risk‑Based F2/F3 Petroleum Hydrocarbon Management Levels in Soil for Alberta Land‑Use | Research to address key scientific and technical gaps in Alberta's petroleum hydrocarbon management framework. Rather than issuing a narrowly defined RFP, the committee agreed to begin with an Expression of Interest (EOI) to identify qualified proponents and gather innovative approaches. This staged process will help ensure the final research scope is informed by the best available expertise while avoiding duplication of previous work. | Supports evidence-based updates to Alberta soil PHC management levels, improving consistency, risk-management defensibility and closure decisions for contaminated sites. | $200,000 |
| Drilling Fluids Searchable Catalogue | Create a searchable drilling-fluids catalogue helping consultants identify additives, reduce unnecessary Phase 2 Environmental Site Assessment (ESAs) and support reclamation decisions more reliably. | Improves additive identification for Phase 1 ESAs and can reduce unnecessary Phase 2 ESAs caused by unknown drilling-fluid additives. | $50,000 |
| Chloride and Salinity Management (Future work) | Identify practical chloride and salinity management research needs to improve assessment, remediation, reclamation and closure outcomes for affected Alberta sites. | Supports clearer salinity management pathways, risk-based decisions and improved reclamation outcomes for sites constrained by chloride or salt impacts. | $270,000 |
Water Innovation (WIPC)
| RFP Title | Project Objective | Why the work is important | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberta Water Tool - One-Year Operations, Monitoring, and Regulatory Alignment | Provide one-year operations, monitoring, data maintenance and regulatory alignment to keep Alberta Water Tool current, stable and useful for producers. | Maintains an open planning tool that reduces uncertainty, enables faster water availability screening and keeps outputs aligned with Alberta regulatory changes. | $65,000 |
| Development of a Planning Tool to Conduct Drought and Water-Availability Scenario Analysis for Oil and Gas Production Operational Planning | Develops a decision-support tool helping oil and gas operators assess drought scenarios, forecast water availability, and improve operational planning resilience. | Increasing drought frequency and water allocation constraints create operational, regulatory, and business risks for Alberta oil and gas producers. This tool enables proactive planning using water-availability scenarios to support resilient, informed operational decisions. | $100,000 |
| Assessment of Produced Water Transport and Storage Options for Alberta | Compare produced-water transport and storage options, regulatory pathways and screening tools to increase reuse and reduce sourcing pressure for producers. | Helps producers select safe, cost-effective, regulator-aligned transport and storage configurations that enable produced-water reuse and reduce HQNS demand. | $100,000 |
| Long-Term Above-Ground Water Storage: Management Options for Individual Producers and Shared (Multi-Party) Use | Develop submission-ready guidance and evidence packages for long-term above-ground water storage, supporting approvals, operations, liability and closure under Alberta pathways. | Reduces ambiguity and rework for longer-term AWSS approvals by aligning evidence packages with Directive 055, Manual 025 and lifecycle risk controls. | $100,000 |
| Evidence-Based Assessment of Freeboard Requirements for Wind-Wave Effects in In-Ground Water Storage | Standardize Alberta freeboard calculations for wind-wave effects in in-ground storage, improving approvals, safety and defensible operating limits for producers statewide. | Addresses inconsistent freeboard submissions by producing defensible calculation workflows, templates and tools that improve safety and reduce regulator review rework. | $100,000 |
Well Decommissioning Research (WDRC)
| RFP Title | Project Objective | Why the work is important | Budget |
|---|---|---|---|
| Field Testing a Methane Emissions Risk Tool for Assessing Surface Casing Vent Flows and Gas Migration in Non-Producing Oil and Gas Wells in Alberta | Ground-truth MEL methane risk tool through controlled releases and field trials, improving SCVF/GM decisions for non-producing wells in Alberta operations. | Validates and calibrates a producer-ready methane SCVF/GM risk tool to improve regulatory consistency, auditability and decision confidence. | $500,000 |
| Decision-Support Software Tool for Well Decommissioning in Alberta | Develop decision-support software for well decommissioning, integrating engineering logic, workflows and audit-ready outputs for Alberta abandonment planning and execution decisions. | Addresses incomplete well history, barrier-material selection, pathway uncertainty and QA/QC documentation to improve abandonment planning and auditability. | $200,000 |
| Source and Leak Pathway Identification Processes and Tools | Develop diagnostics suite for SCVF/GM source and pathway identification, including confidence-rated outputs for complex well configurations and remediation planning decisions. | Improves transparent, auditable diagnosis of SCVF/GM sources and leak pathways so interventions can be planned with stronger confidence. | $200,000 |
| Integrated SCVF/GM Remediation Success and Verification | Define remediation success metrics, barrier evaluation and post-treatment verification to prove, monitor and sustain SCVF/GM repair outcomes over time reliably. | Connects remediation design choices to measurable success metrics and verification plans, improving confidence that SCVF/GM fixes are sustained. | $125,000 |
| Thermal Operations Gas Measurement and Source Attribution for SCVF/GM (CH4/H2S) | Develop measurement and source-attribution suite for thermal SCVF/GM methane and H2S emissions, standardizing monitoring triggers and methods for operators statewide. | Would have standardized monitoring and attribution for methane and hydrogen sulfide emissions in thermal operations. | $125,000 |