Most operators I talk to know the provincial emissions reports well. The federal one, the National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI), gets less attention until the June 1 deadline is close. It is run by Environment and Climate Change Canada, it applies in Alberta like everywhere else, and a few of its rules catch oil and gas sites off guard.
Who has to report
The owner or operator of a facility reports when the facility meets the criteria in the federal notice. Two tests do most of the work. The first is hours: a facility where employees, on-site owners and contractors together work 20,000 hours or more in the calendar year has to look at all of its sources. The second is the release threshold for each substance.
For the criteria air contaminants in Part 4 of the notice, the air release thresholds are 20 tonnes for nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and total particulate matter, and 10 tonnes for total volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Fine particulate has much lower limits, 0.5 tonnes for PM10 and 0.3 tonnes for PM2.5. Once a facility meets Part 4, each individual VOC listed in Part 5 is reported if 1 tonne or more went to air.
A facility that only explores or drills wells is exempt. A facility that consists only of compression equipment is judged on its stationary combustion equipment alone. A facility that does not meet the hours test, but burns fuel in stationary equipment, still has to consider those combustion releases.
What counts as a release at a gas site
Environment and Climate Change Canada splits air releases into stack or point releases and fugitive releases. Flares are stack releases. Fugitive releases are the ones that do not leave through a confined air stream, and its instructions name equipment leaks from valves, pump seals, flanges, compressors, sampling connections and open-ended lines. For a facility that meets the hours test, both kinds go into the threshold total, so a site with modest stack emissions can still cross the 10 tonne VOC line once the leaks are added.
Oil and gas extraction facilities also have to give their provincial licence or identification number. A Petrinex ID, four letters followed by seven digits, is the example given, and a licence number is used if there is no Petrinex ID.
Dates
The 2025 reports were due June 1, 2026. Reports for the 2026 calendar year are due June 1, 2027. One federal notice covers the 2025, 2026 and 2027 reporting years, so the rules for next year are the same as the ones just filed. Reports go in through the Single Window Information Manager, and a facility that reported last year but no longer meets the criteria files a Does Not Meet Criteria report by the same date.
The records that back the numbers
The Canadian Environmental Protection Act requires the records behind a report, including calculations and measurements, to be kept for three years from the reporting deadline, at the facility or at the operator’s principal place of business in Canada. Estimates for venting, flaring and fugitive sources are only as good as the measurements and method notes behind them. The vent, flare and fugitive volumes you already track for provincial reporting are the natural starting point, so I would keep one organized file per facility that ties each reported figure to its source data. Most gaps I see are not in the measurement itself but at the handoffs, where field data moves to the person who files the report. Name who owns each step, and keep the evidence where they can find it.
Where we come in
Our NPRI reporting services cover the threshold check, the release estimates and the filing, drawing on the same field data as our emissions field services. The full criteria are on the federal NPRI reporting instructions page, and the current deadlines are on the deadlines page.
If you are not sure which of your facilities meet the criteria, send me the list and I will go through it with you.
