Contribution of Infrastructure to Oil and Gas Production and Processing Carbon Footprint

The contribution of capital equipment used to extract oil and gas from the ground, process it into key gas fractions, and refine it, has long been discounted in carbon footprint calculations as not material; however, data in support of this assertion is scarce. In a unique approach, this paper presents data compiled on the capital infrastructure required through the lifecycle of petroleum production and processing. Publicly available data was gathered and populated to summarize the capital infrastructure associated with offshore and onshore oil and gas production, pipeline distribution to processing, and processing facilities including refinery and gas plant. Data for the refinery was obtained from a refinery that has been demolished. A comprehensive Internet search was conducted to locate equipment characteristics for gas plants, onshore and offshore well site infrastructure, and pipeline. The results presented are totals for the steel and concrete in actual equipment and infrastructure used in each stage, as determined by an equipment inventory and associated process specifications. Previously published results 1 indicated that the carbon footprint contribution is relatively small compared to the fuel combusted to produce and process oil and gas, which is a highly energy-intensive process. This more all-encompassing evaluation of the cradle-to-gate infrastructure impacts as compared to operational impacts expanded on that previous work and results now suggest that carbon impacts from oil and gas-related infrastructure are material to the cradle-to-gate footprint both onshore and offshore. The data suggest that the carbon footprint of offshore oil and gas production is higher than for the corresponding onshore oil and gas production operations, and that the per unit of energy cradle-to-grave carbon footprint of natural gas is lower than for crude oil, owing to large combustion differences. However, the cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of natural gas is higher than oil on an energy basis.