Decarbonization for Oil and Gas Value Chain: An Update Review

Abstract

Apart from oil and natural gas conventional reservoirs scarcities, global warming is one of the environmental petroleum industry challenges in the short-medium-long term. This is related to the dramatic growth of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission in which carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by the combustion of fossil fuels plays a significant role in atmosphere carbonization. Different technologies or systems for capturing CO2 are available such as pre-combustion systems, post-combustion systems, oxy-fuel combustion systems and capture from industrial process streams. However, decarbonization involves the removal of greenhouse gases emissions and storing them in geological formation or using them for other sectors of industries including oil production optimization. This process is known as carbon dioxide capture usage and storage (CCUS), a promising method to reduce CO2 emissions due to increasing energy demand and continued dependency on fossil fuel in the next decades while green energy is still under investigation or is not a mature option yet. Besides the CCUS method, emission reduction can also be achieved by improving energy efficiency or shifting to green energy. Therefore, Oil and gas (O&G) producers need to continue investigating the CCUS as an option that allows using fossil energy sources while the world is moving to transition to other green energies.