Impressive new study on the carbon intensity of crude oil production by field. Average life-cycle emissions are 10.3gCO₂-eq/MJ or 1.7GtCO₂-eq (5% global energy GHG emissions), with huge variation by field / country. 1/5
science.sciencemag.org/content/361/64… ($)
science.sciencemag.org/content/361/64… ($)
Flaring (red), heavy oil (blue), or both (yellow) are key factors increasing emissions. Flaring is 22% of average weighted carbon intensity, but much higher in some places (over 50%). Heavy oil can be very emission intensive, but not always. 2/5
This will excite Norway: "Although some giant North Sea offshore fields have shown rapidly increasing per-barrel emissions due to depletion, they have low upstream GHG intensities when compared to many other global oil fields." 3/5
This will disappoint Norway (they are not the best): Saudi Arabia is the largest global oil producer, also amongst the lowest emissions per barrel due to large & productive fields. 4/5
This is an impressive analysis, 60 pages of supporting material, 40 pages of references, & input data collated. Huge effort, hats off. But, researchers shouldn't have to do this. All countries should be green bars in this figure... 4/5
Don't forget to check out the Oil-Climate Index webpage oci.carnegieendowment.org
