Carbon intensity of oil production
Oct 7 2021
The global impact of carbon intensity of oil production needs to be considered when granting approval for development.
Over the last couple of days I have attended the online ‘FT energy transition strategies summit’. Nick Walker, President & CEO of Lundin Energy, highlighted that the recent Johan Sverdrup development is powered by electricity from shore enabling production to be certified to be carbon neutral – that is “no carbon was emitted in the making of this barrel” (my paraphrasing of the declaration at the end of many films).
To put this in context, he indicated that typical CO2 emissions for producing a barrel of oil was 20kg and for some sources, as much as 60kg. (Considering a barrel contains 42 US gallons / 159L, and weighs around 150kg – the emission associated with production can be substantial compared to the emissions from its final consumption.)
This reinforced a concern I have had recently. The demand for oil and gas is not going to go away overnight, and there is still the need to produce it. It would be better for the planet if oil and gas is sourced from places where the emissions from its associated production is low, and the hydrocarbon that would otherwise have a large associated emission is left in the ground.
There has been opposition recently about developments around the UK (such as Shell’s Cambo field), with the argument that we should not be approving ANY new developments. However, the decision should be more nuanced, optimising on a global basis and taking into account the continuing (albeit declining) need.
PS In googling around this topic, I discovered a quote in EnergyVoice “ According to OGA analysis, domestic gas production has “less than half” the carbon footprint of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG)…. the UK can’t “simply turn off oil and gas”, but that it can produce it in a “much cleaner way”. “
I also found a paper which assessed and contrasted carbon intensities (CI) around the world and included this chart. [The data is from 6 years ago so is probably out of date as technology and regulations will have developed – but it gives an illustration of the potential difference between different geographies].
