Oil Sands Producers Cut CO2 Emissions

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. (See Notes below)

While total CO2e emissions have grown consistently with increased production over recent years – up 42.5% form 2004 to 2009 – lower per barrel emissions represent hard won efficiencies for the oil sands project operators. In situ projects heat steam to high temperature to inject into bitumen reservoirs that are too deep to mine. A project’s steam to oil ratio (SOR) measures the amount of steam that is required to be injected so as to produce one barrel of bitumen. Operators have implemented a wide range of methods to improve these operating efficiencies, applying improved technologies, heat recycling equipment, and solvent assisted recovery. As a result of these efforts, the average 2009 project SOR was 4.03, down from 4.27 in 2008.

By project, Cold Lake is the largest of the in situ emitters of green house gas (GHG), producing a total of 4,235,313 tonnes of CO2e emissions in 2009. Peace River and Christina Lake projects produced a total of 98,873 and 237,148 tonnes of CO2e respectively, and achieved the most efficient per barrel CO2e emissions ratio during these operations, 43.8 and 48.8 CO2e (kg/bbl) respectively. Christina Lake and Jackfish offered the most improved performance in GHG emissions at 35% reductions in CO2e per barrel between 2008 and 2009. In total, nine of the fourteen projects operational between 2008 and 2009 cut their average CO2e emissions on a per barrel basis.

Mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction accounted for 24% of total Canadian GHG emissions in 2009, according to the Environment Canada, and as the oil sands sector has grown economies of scale have also had an effect on the level of emissions. In 2009 Foster Creek added 60 mbbls/d of additional capacity through Phases D & E, but operator Cenovus was still able to cut CO2e emissions from 60.8 kg produced in 2008 to 59.9 kg in 2009.

Integrated projects which extract bitumen and upgrade on site to syncrude also saw an overall decrease in CO2e GHG emissions. Total integrated production increased from 1,160 b/d in 2008 and 149.8 kg of CO2e emissions per barrel, to 1,532 b/d and 123.2 kg per barrel in 2009. This sector of the industry includes mining, a sector that has undertaken significant steps to try to reduce the impact of its operations upon the environment, including the recent Canadian Natural Resources Limited, Imperial Oil, Shell, Suncor, Syncrude, Teck Resources and Total SA agreement to “work together in a unified effort” by fostering “innovation and collaboration in research and development.”

Notes

Details of this analysis are available exclusively to CanOils subscribers (www.canoils.com).

Greenhouse gases are those gases in an atmosphere that absorb and emit radiation within the thermal infrared range. The main greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. CanOils tracks carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and their respective co2e release per barrel and by total for every oil sands project. In the CanOils database, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone emissions are converted to CO2 equivalent based on the US Environmental Protection Agency Global Warming Potential (GWP) factors under which CO2 has a GWP of 1, methane a d GWP of 21 and Nitrous oxide a GWP of 310.

Syncrude is bitumen that has been upgraded to synthetic crude oil.

There are two main ways of extracting oil sands – mining, in which the bitumen is located within 80-100 meters of the surface and in situ whereby the bitumen is located in deeper reservoirs and is produced using steam injectionor other enhanced recovery methods.

Air pollutant emissions data were compiled in collaboration with provincial, territorial and regional environmental agencies by Environment Canada, National Pollutant Release Inventory (NPRI). Facilities report their own pollutant release and transfer data to Environment Canada.

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