scholarly journals Achieving Net Zero Emissions Requires the Knowledge and Skills of the Oil and Gas Industry

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astley Hastings ◽  
Pete Smith
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Anthropogenic Activity ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

The challenge facing society in the 21st century is to improve the quality of life for all citizens in an egalitarian way, providing sufficient food, shelter, energy, and other resources for a healthy meaningful life, while at the same time decarbonizing anthropogenic activity to provide a safe global climate, limiting temperature rise to well-below 2°C with the aim of limiting the temperature increase to no more than 1.5°C. To do this, the world must achieve net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050. Currently spreading wealth and health across the globe is dependent on growing the GDP of all countries, driven by the use of energy, which until recently has mostly been derived from fossil fuel. Recently, some countries have decoupled their GDP growth and greenhouse gas emissions through a rapid increase in low carbon energy generation. Considering the current level of energy consumption and projected implementation rates of low carbon energy production, a considerable quantity of fossil fuels is projected to be used to fill the gap, and to avoid emissions of GHG and close the gap between the 1.5°C carbon budget and projected emissions, carbon capture and storage (CCS) on an industrial scale will be required. In addition, the IPCC estimate that large-scale GHG removal from the atmosphere is required to limit warming to below 2°C using technologies such as Bioenergy CCS and direct carbon capture with CCS to achieve climate safety. In this paper, we estimate the amount of carbon dioxide that will have to be captured and stored, the storage volume, technology, and infrastructure required to achieve the energy consumption projections with net zero GHG emissions by 2050. We conclude that the oil and gas production industry alone has the geological and engineering expertise and global reach to find the geological storage structures and build the facilities, pipelines, and wells required. Here, we consider why and how oil and gas companies will need to morph from hydrocarbon production enterprises into net zero emission energy and carbon dioxide storage enterprises, decommission facilities only after CCS, and thus be economically sustainable businesses in the long term, by diversifying in and developing this new industry.

Technology Focus: Offshore Facilities (September 2021)

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (09) ◽  
pp. 50-50
Author(s):  
Ardian Nengkoda
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Oil Price ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The Past ◽  
Offshore Technology ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

For this feature, I have had the pleasure of reviewing 122 papers submitted to SPE in the field of offshore facilities over the past year. Brent crude oil price finally has reached $75/bbl at the time of writing. So far, this oil price is the highest since before the COVID-19 pandemic, which is a good sign that demand is picking up. Oil and gas offshore projects also seem to be picking up; most offshore greenfield projects are dictated by economics and the price of oil. As predicted by some analysts, global oil consumption will continue to increase as the world’s economy recovers from the pandemic. A new trend has arisen, however, where, in addition to traditional economic screening, oil and gas investors look to environment, social, and governance considerations to value the prospects of a project and minimize financial risk from environmental and social issues. The oil price being around $75/bbl has not necessarily led to more-attractive offshore exploration and production (E&P) projects, even though the typical offshore breakeven price is in the range of $40–55/bbl. We must acknowledge the energy transition, while also acknowledging that oil and natural gas will continue to be essential to meeting the world’s energy needs for many years. At least five European oil and gas E&P companies have announced net-zero 2050 ambitions so far. According to Rystad Energy, continuous major investments in E&P still are needed to meet growing global oil and gas demand. For the past 2 years, the global investment in E&P project spending is limited to $200 billion, including offshore, so a situation might arise with reserve replacement becoming challenging while demand accelerates rapidly. Because of well productivity, operability challenges, and uncertainty, however, opening the choke valve or pipeline tap is not as easy as the public thinks, especially on aging facilities. On another note, the technology landscape is moving to emerging areas such as net-zero; decarbonization; carbon capture, use, and storage; renewables; hydrogen; novel geothermal solutions; and a circular carbon economy. Historically, however, the Offshore Technology Conference began proactively discussing renewables technology—such as wave, tidal, ocean thermal, and solar—in 1980. The remaining question, then, is how to balance the lack of capital expenditure spending during the pandemic and, to some extent, what the role of offshore is in the energy transition. Maximizing offshore oil and gas recovery is not enough anymore. In the short term, engaging the low-carbon energy transition as early as possible and leading efforts in decarbonization will become a strategic move. Leveraging our expertise in offshore infrastructure, supply chains, sea transportation, storage, and oil and gas market development to support low-carbon energy deployment in the energy transition will become vital. We have plenty of technical knowledge and skill to offer for offshore wind projects, for instance. The Hywind wind farm offshore Scotland is one example of a project that is using the same spar technology as typical offshore oil and gas infrastructure. Innovation, optimization, effective use of capital and operational expenditures, more-affordable offshore technology, and excellent project management, no doubt, also will become a new normal offshore. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. SPE 202911 - Harnessing Benefits of Integrated Asset Modeling for Bottleneck Management of Large Offshore Facilities in the Matured Giant Oil Field by Yukito Nomura, ADNOC, et al. OTC 30970 - Optimizing Deepwater Rig Operations With Advanced Remotely Operated Vehicle Technology by Bernard McCoy Jr., TechnipFMC, et al. OTC 31089 - From Basic Engineering to Ramp-Up: The New Successful Execution Approach for Commissioning in Brazil by Paulino Bruno Santos, Petrobras, et al.

scholarly journals The Role of Zero and Low Carbon Hydrogen in Enabling the Energy Transition and the Path to Net Zero Greenhouse Gas Emissions

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam French
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Industrial Processes ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Intergovernmental Panel ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
The World

As public pressure to limit global warming continues to rise, governments, policy makers and regulators are looking for the most effective ways to achieve the target set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to keep the global temperature increase to below 1.5°C above pre‐industrial levels. This will require the world to move to net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050, and numerous governments have committed to reach net zero by this date, or even earlier. It is widely recognised that achieving net zero at the state, country and regional levels will necessitate a systems-wide approach across all the major sources of GHG emissions, which include power generation, transport, industrial processes and heating. Land use is also critical with billions of trees needing to be planted and a change in the amount of meat eaten. There is a growing realisation that hydrogen has a vital role to play, particularly to decarbonise sectors and applications that are otherwise extremely difficult to abate, such as industrial processes, heavy duty freight movement, dispatchable power generation and heating applications. Hydrogen will also provide long-term (for instance seasonal) energy storage, enabling much greater uptake of renewable power generation, which itself is a key prerequisite of the clean energy transition. Hydrogen can play a role in the decarbonisation of all major segments, and this means it can facilitate cross-sector coupling, enabling the exploitation of synergies between different key parts of the economy. This article discusses the different production routes to low and zero carbon hydrogen, and its uses across numerous applications to minimise and eliminate carbon dioxide and GHG emissions, building a picture of the key role that hydrogen will play in the energy transition and the broader global move towards decarbonisation and climate stabilisation. An overview of some of the ongoing and planned demonstration projects will be presented, outlining the importance of such activities in providing confidence that the hydrogen approach is the right one for multiple geographies around the world and that there are technologies that are ready to be deployed today.

scholarly journals Accelerating Net Zero from the perspective of Optimizing a Carbon Capture and Utilization System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhimian Hao ◽  
Magda Barecka ◽  
Alexei Lapkin
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Emissions Reduction ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Carbon Capture And Utilization ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Cradle To Gate ◽  
The Cost

Net zero requires an accelerated transition from fossil fuels to renewables. Carbon capture and utilization (CCU) can be an effective intermediate solution for the decarbonization of fossil fuels. However, many research works contain renewables in the design of CCU systems, which may mislead stakeholders regarding the hotspots of CCU systems. In this work we build a model of a CCU system with no renewables involved, and evaluate its greenhouse (GHG) emissions based on the life cycle assessment with a cradle-to-gate boundary. To pursue the best system performance, an optimization framework is established to digitalize and optimize the CCU system regarding GHG emissions reduction. The optimized CCU can reduce GHG emissions by 13% compared with the conventional process. Heating is identified as the most significant contributor to GHG emissions, accounting for 60%. Electrifying heating fully by low-carbon electricity can further reduce GHG emissions by 47%, but such extreme conditions will significantly sacrifice the economic benefit. By contrast, the multi-objective optimization can show how the decisions can affect the balance between GHG emissions and profit. Further, this work discusses the dual effect of carbon pricing on the CCU system – raising the cost of raw materials and utilities, but also gaining credits when emissions are reduced in producing valued products.

Is the service industry really low-carbon? Energy, jobs and realistic country GHG emissions reductions

2021 ◽  
Vol 292 ◽  
pp. 116878
Author(s):  
Simon H. Roberts ◽  
Barney D. Foran ◽  
Colin J. Axon ◽  
Alice V. Stamp
Keyword(s):  
Service Industry ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Emissions Reductions ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

scholarly journals LEAP-Based Greenhouse Gases Emissions Peak and Low Carbon Pathways in China’s Tourist Industry

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 1218
Author(s):  
Dandan Liu ◽  
Dewei Yang ◽  
Anmin Huang
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Growth Potential ◽  
Planning System ◽  
Tourist Industry ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Carbon Reduction ◽  
Co2 Equivalent

China has grown into the world’s largest tourist source market and its huge tourism activities and resulting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are particularly becoming a concern in the context of global climate warming. To depict the trajectory of carbon emissions, a long-range energy alternatives planning system (LEAP)-Tourist model, consisting of two scenarios and four sub-scenarios, was established for observing and predicting tourism greenhouse gas peaks in China from 2017 to 2040. The results indicate that GHG emissions will peak at 1048.01 million-ton CO2 equivalent (Mt CO2e) in 2033 under the integrated (INT) scenario. Compared with the business as usual (BAU) scenario, INT will save energy by 24.21% in 2040 and reduce energy intensity from 0.4979 tons of CO2 equivalent/104 yuan (TCO2e/104 yuan) to 0.3761 Tce/104 yuan. Although the INT scenario has achieved promising effects of energy saving and carbon reduction, the peak year 2033 in the tourist industry is still later than China’s expected peak year of 2030. This is due to the growth potential and moderate carbon control measures in the tourist industry. Thus, in order to keep the tourist industry in synchronization with China’s peak goals, more stringent measures are needed, e.g., the promotion of clean fuel shuttle buses, the encouragement of low carbon tours, the cancelation of disposable toiletries and the recycling of garbage resources. The results of this simulation study will help set GHG emission peak targets in the tourist industry and formulate a low carbon roadmap to guide carbon reduction actions in the field of GHG emissions with greater certainty.

scholarly journals Greenhouse gas emissions from the water–air interface of a grassland river: a case study of the Xilin River

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Hao ◽  
Yu Ruihong ◽  
Zhang Zhuangzhuang ◽  
Qi Zhen ◽  
Lu Xixi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Land Use ◽  
Nitrous Oxide ◽  
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ◽  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Nitrous Oxide Emissions ◽  
Gas Emissions ◽  
Sand Land ◽  
Very High

AbstractGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rivers and lakes have been shown to significantly contribute to global carbon and nitrogen cycling. In spatiotemporal-variable and human-impacted rivers in the grassland region, simultaneous carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions and their relationships under the different land use types are poorly documented. This research estimated greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions in the Xilin River of Inner Mongolia of China using direct measurements from 18 field campaigns under seven land use type (such as swamp, sand land, grassland, pond, reservoir, lake, waste water) conducted in 2018. The results showed that CO2 emissions were higher in June and August, mainly affected by pH and DO. Emissions of CH4 and N2O were higher in October, which were influenced by TN and TP. According to global warming potential, CO2 emissions accounted for 63.35% of the three GHG emissions, and CH4 and N2O emissions accounted for 35.98% and 0.66% in the Xilin river, respectively. Under the influence of different degrees of human-impact, the amount of CO2 emissions in the sand land type was very high, however, CH4 emissions and N2O emissions were very high in the artificial pond and the wastewater, respectively. For natural river, the greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir and sand land were both low. The Xilin river was observed to be a source of carbon dioxide and methane, and the lake was a sink for nitrous oxide.

Primary Energy System Chain Security Under the Energy Transition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osamah Alsayegh
Keyword(s):  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
System Security ◽  
Energy System ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Low Carbon Energy

Abstract This paper examines the energy transition consequences on the oil and gas energy system chain as it propagates from net importing through the transit to the net exporting countries (or regions). The fundamental energy system security concerns of importing, transit, and exporting regions are analyzed under the low carbon energy transition dynamics. The analysis is evidence-based on diversification of energy sources, energy supply and demand evolution, and energy demand management development. The analysis results imply that the energy system is going through technological and logistical reallocation of primary energy. The manifestation of such reallocation includes an increase in electrification, the rise of energy carrier options, and clean technologies. Under healthy and normal global economic growth, the reallocation mentioned above would have a mild effect on curbing the oil and gas primary energy demands growth. A case study concerning electric vehicles, which is part of the energy transition aspect, is presented to assess its impact on the energy system, precisely on the fossil fuel demand. Results show that electric vehicles are indirectly fueled, mainly from fossil-fired power stations through electric grids. Moreover, oil byproducts use in the electric vehicle industry confirms the reallocation of the energy system components' roles. The paper's contribution to the literature is the portrayal of the energy system security state under the low carbon energy transition. The significance of this representation is to shed light on the concerns of the net exporting, transit, and net importing regions under such evolution. Subsequently, it facilitates the development of measures toward mitigating world tensions and conflicts, enhancing the global socio-economic wellbeing, and preventing corruption.

scholarly journals Greenhouse gas emissions profiles of neighbourhoods in Durban, South Africa – an initial investigation

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meryl Jagarnath ◽  
Tirusha Thambiran
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Emissions Inventory ◽  
High Emission ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Reduce Emissions ◽  
The City

Because current emissions accounting approaches focus on an entire city, cities are often considered to be large emitters of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with no attention to the variation within them. This makes it more difficult to identify climate change mitigation strategies that can simultaneously reduce emissions and address place-specific development challenges. In response to this gap, a bottom-up emissions inventory study was undertaken to identify high emission zones and development goals for the Durban metropolitan area (eThekwini Municipality). The study is the first attempt at creating a spatially disaggregated emissions inventory for key sectors in Durban. The results indicate that particular groups and economic activities are responsible for more emissions, and socio-spatial development and emission inequalities are found both within the city and within the high emission zone. This is valuable information for the municipality in tailoring mitigation efforts to reduce emissions and address development gaps for low-carbon spatial planning whilst contributing to objectives for social justice.

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