Oil and gas companies are under pressure: Too high emissions

2023-05-09 18:33:32

Large quantities of methane are still flared off at many oil production facilities, such as here on the Iranian island of Khark.
Image: AFP

In order to be able to achieve the climate goals, the oil and gas industry must also reduce its emissions quickly. The International Energy Agency (IEA) presents five measures how this could succeed.

BBefore petroleum ends up as fuel in consumers’ car tanks, it has to go through several stages. Initially, potential oil deposits in the “Upstream” process explored and promoted. After that, the crude oil is processed in the “downstream” process transported and processed into various products such as fuel, rubber and plastic containers. These steps alone by the oil and gas industry led to the emission of 5.1 billion tons of greenhouse gases in 2022. If the emissions were considered as an independent country, they would only be behind China in the global ranking. The use of oil and gas at the end of the consumption chain is responsible for 40 percent of all global energy emissions, industry for 15 percent, writes the International Energy Agency (IEA) in their latest report “Emissions from Oil and Gas Operations in Net Zero Transitions”.

The emission intensity of the oil and gas industry, i.e. the relative proportion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) per unit of use must fall by 50 percent by 2030 to reach the 2050 net-zero emissions target, according to the IEA. This goal cannot be achieved under the current conditions. It requires investments of 600 billion US dollars to fulfill the five measures formulated by the IEA.