Social Science Research Network | 2021
Reducing CO 2 Emissions from Offshore Oil and Gas Production
Abstract
The CO2 emissions from offshore production of oil and gas are typically less than 5% of the total life cycle emissions of the fossil hydrocarbons, but national reduction targets, CO2 taxes and fees and total value chain decarbonisation are compelling reasons to eliminate them. Reduction is possible through many measures, ranging from well-known like improving energy efficiency to new solutions under development like ammonia fuel cells and compact CO2 capture. The most suitable solution for an installation depends on factors such as platform type, field lifetime, energy demand and CO2 emission profiles, distance of the field from the fuel source, local availability of low carbon energy, whether it is existing or new facility implementation, the degree of CO2 reduction on the facility and the scale of the measure. The measures presented and discussed in this article are efficiency improvement, adding bottoming cycles to open cycles; electrification (from shore, offshore power plants with CCS or offshore wind), hydrogen and ammonia, bio- and synthetic fuels, and onboard CCS. Some measures have no further value when the installations reach end of life, whereas others can facilitate or stimulate further low carbon value chain development. There are still technology gaps that need closing and the abatement cost must be reduced for many of these solutions to come to fruition.