![]() ![]() The researchers developed models of the physical processes involved at each stage from initial exploration through transport to refineries. The new simulator, by contrast, calculates emissions from the bottom up. According to Masnadi, “When you do this, you’re missing lots of underlying processes that lead to emissions.” ![]() The study builds on a project led by Brandt called the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator, or OPGEE, which California air regulators now use to estimate emissions from different crudes that California imports or produces as part of the state’s low-carbon fuel standard.īut until now, large gaps remained in even the best estimates of emissions from crude oil production on a global scale because they worked backward from economic data, calculating how many barrels oil companies were likely to have produced based on oil prices in a given period. And over the coming century, the world could avoid as much as 18 gigatons of emissions from the oil production expected to continue under even aggressive scenarios for shifting away from fossil fuels – mainly by halting extraction of the dirtiest resources and improving gas management. In all, the study suggests that eliminating routine flaring and cutting methane leaks and venting to rates already achieved in Norway could cut as much as 700 megatons of emissions from the oil sector’s annual carbon footprint – a reduction of roughly 43 percent. And so-called enhanced recovery techniques that use steam to loosen oil from aging wells add to the relatively high carbon intensity of oil production in places like Indonesia, Oman and California. The paper finds Venezuela and Canada rank among the most carbon-intensive oil producers because of the high energy needs and emissions associated with extracting heavy oil from unconventional reserves like tar sands. To be sure, emissions related to a reservoir’s location and accessibility still play an important role. “Really, the challenge with flaring is there needs to be a policy or a regulatory apparatus to say, ‘Burning gas with no purpose isn’t allowed put it back in the ground or find something useful to do with it,’” Brandt said. The revelation suggests that investment in infrastructure and policies to better manage natural gas could deliver greater climate benefits than previously thought. In this Q&A he discusses why companies flare excess gas and some policies that could reduce the practice. (Image credit: Getty Images)Īdam Brandt says that with proper regulations the practice of flaring can be reduced. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has relatively low carbon intensity because it flares little gas and has vast resources with low water content, which means less energy goes into treating and separating the oil. But the research shows that a country like Algeria, which produces the lightest crude oil in the world, has the highest carbon intensity because oilfield operators routinely burn large amounts of gas. “Everybody talks about heavy crude oil, oil sands and unconventional resources,” Masnadi said. ![]() Nothing drives up carbon intensity like the practice of routinely burning, or flaring, natural gas, the researchers found. That’s roughly triple the average carbon intensity of oilfields in countries at the low end of the scale. The work suggests nations with the highest carbon-intensity produce more than 15 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent, on average, for every megajoule of crude. Masnadi worked with Adam Brandt, an assistant professor of energy resources engineering and senior author on the paper. Yet according to lead author Mohammad Masnadi, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences ( Stanford Earth), total emissions from crude oil production may be higher than even these latest calculations suggest, because the current analysis does not fully capture emissions related to leakage and venting of methane, a powerful global warming gas. ![]() Accounting for as much as 98 percent of global production, it is the most comprehensive assessment to date of carbon intensity and pollution by oil fields. 30 in the journal Science, quantifies emissions from when companies first explore a site through transporting crude to refineries. New research quantifies greenhouse gas emissions from crude oil production – from when companies first explore a site through transporting crude to refineries. ![]()
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