Westgen Technologies Inc- Initiatives to decrease development costs while boosting  environmental sustainability! 

About: Westgen Technologies Inc. is a power generation firm in the Canadian  upstream oil and gas industry that aims to lower production costs while enhancing  environmental sustainability. It has been created on the conviction that the energy  business is important to Canada’s and society’s long-term prosperity and success. 

Sustainability is a global perspective that each and every institu tion is considering.  In an inter view with Mr. Connor O’Shea, co-founder of Western Technologies Inc, he  discusses how sustainability is the most key factor to consider, as well as how their  path has taught them the value of reliable and affordable energy for our globe. 

At a time when global warming is a defin- ing concern, I’d express my gratitude to  Westgen Technologies for their dedication to a pollution-free world. What motivat  ed Westgen Technologies to begin this initiative?

Thank you to World Economic Magazine for hosting us for an interview! My Co-Founder and I have worked in the oil and gas industry for many years. We  have each had experiences in life that have helped us to appreciate the importance  of reliable and affordable energy for our world. At the same time, we have children,  and believe that the oil & gas industry needs to evolve to reduce emissions and  address the threat of climate change. We see many people creating divisiveness in  our society over these issues, but we think what is really needed is people contribut  ing to solving the challenges by getting to work and creating practical solutions that  moves us forward. We were aware of the methane emissions problem in the oil and  gas industry and believed that a better solution was needed so we set out to create  one. 

As opposed to actual work, the entire world continues to worry about Climate  Change and Global Warming. Is there any possibility of addressing climate change  before it’s too late? 

I don’t have a background in climate sci ence, and I don’t pretend to understand the  complex nature of our environment. However, I am solutions oriented and an  optimist, and as such I believe that the oil and gas industry can and will reach net  zero emissions. I have confidence in the incredibly talented people who work in this  industry. As an industry, we have accomplished many impressive techno logical  feats over the last 150 years. The oil and gas industry are more focused on solving  the emissions challenge than an ything else I’ve seen in my career and are making  astounding progress. Most people don’t realize how much improvement has  happened, but we’re not ready for a victory lap yet as there is still a lot of work to  do. 

Please describe one of Westgen’s efforts that aids in the company’s progress in a  sustainable and environmentally respon sible way. 

Most people aren’t familiar with the word ‘pneumatic device’, but the best example  is the airgun that is used to change a tire in a mechanic’s garage. This airgun is a  pneumatic device and uses compressed air to spin the motor. We also use pneu  matic devices in oil and gas for things like running small pumps and opening and  closing control valves. The difference is in oil and gas we often don’t have com  pressed air available, so we use the com pressed natural gas that is coming out of  the wells instead. This gas, composed primarily of methane, is vented to the at  mosphere after being used. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, with a warming  

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potential 26 times higher than CO2 over a 100 year period. According to the IEA, the  practice of venting gas through pneumatic devices is responsible for the equivalent  emissions of 500 million tonnes of CO2e, or 116 million cars globally. 

Our product line is called EPOD and it uses a proprietary solar-hybrid power genera  tion system to reliably and cost effectively power an air compressor, providing high  pressure air to the pneumatic devices, and eliminating the need to vent methane to  atmosphere. Each EPOD in operation re duces emissions equivalent to between 250  and 500 cars. 

Westgen’s objective is to create solutions that help promote responsible energy de  velopment by reducing environmental impact and improving design efficiency.  Please share a few tedinological break throughs with us. 

Historically, a lack of cost-effective pow er generation solutions and the resulting  high cost to deploy compressed air on oil and gas sites has been one of the root  causes of our industry’s legacy of venting methane to atmosphere through pneu  matic devices. 

Westgen developed a power generation system to enable solar paired with an en  gine to provide high quality uninterrupted power. The EPOD uses gas right from the  wellhead as a fuel source while extending the engine maintenance interval from a  few weeks to one year between oil chang es. EPOD provides reliable remote power  in the range of 5 to 30 kW at a fraction of the price that was previously possible.  This has enabled cost effective use of instrument air compressors to provide  compressed air to pneumatic devices and eliminate methane emissions. 

Given the high price of natural gas and oil, as well as other variables, how will  Westgen’s technologies benefit users economically? 

In addition to reducing emissions, there are many other benefits to eliminating gas  venting. For one when you don’t vent the gas to atmosphere, it stays in the pro  duction stream and you can sell it! Other economic benefits include improving site  reliability, generating carbon credits, and reducing carbon tax. Many of our custom  ers will pay their units off in just one to two years based on the carbon credits they  generate. 

The Covid-19 crisis has thrown the entire world into not only a physical but also a  massive economic quandary. What are your thoughts on this challenge in terms of  environmental sustainability? 

I think covid has been a valuable experi ence for the world as it’s helped us to see  some aspects of our daily lives from a dif ferent perspective. I think it was eye open  ing for some to see how much we depend on hydrocarbons in our lives and how  little emissions decreased even when all dis cretionary travel and lifestyle activities  went on hold across the globe. Coming out of covid, there has been a very positive  focus on environmental sustainability with regard to how economic stimulus dollars  are being deployed by governments. I think this represents great potential to kick  start big new economic opportunities in dean technologies and achieve progress  toward meeting the world’s climate goals. 

Finally, what is the long-term mission of Westgen Technologies in the line of envi  ronment-friendly offerings? 

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The oil and gas industry is now realizing that they need to achieve net-zero emis  sions in order to meet societal expecta tions. Westgen has created a solution to one  of the emissions challenges but there are many more. We don’t see ourselves as a  company focused on building EPODS, we see ourselves as a company focused on  building a team of problem solvers who have what it takes to continue to innovate  and solve the challenging emissions prob lems one after another. The oil and gas  industry is made up of incredibly talented people who have unique skills and per  spectives to lead the world through the energy transition. I’m confident we’ll be  finding ways to do just that.