Oil and Gas Production: Oil Sands Producers Cut CO2 Emissions

Oil and Gas Production Content Series

Canadian oil sands producers cut their carbon dioxide equivalent emissions (CO2e) per barrel produced in 2009, according to an exclusive CanOils analysis of newly-released official data. Integrated producers (companies that both produce and upgrade bitumen) emitted an average of 123 kg of CO2e emissions per barrel of syncrude produced in 2009 against 150 kg in 2008, while emissions from in situ projects were down for a second consecutive year, emitting 93 kg for every bitumen barrel of production compared with more than 110kg in 2007.

However, these per barrel emissions remain higher than 5 years ago, partly reflecting the build-up of oil sands production in recent years. In the early stages of project start-up, companies need to inject more steam relative to bitumen output, thereby increasing per barrel CO2 equivalent emissions.

This in depth white paper by Chris WIlson from Evaluate Energy examines this issue.

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