Environmental Benefits of Improved Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Technology
Authors: Bybee Karen 
Published: February 2015

This article, written by Assistant Technology Editor Karen Bybee, contains highlights of paper SPE 94388, "Quantifying Environmental Benefits of Improved Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Technology," by M.L. Godec, SPE, Advanced Resources Intl. Inc., and N. Johnson, SPE, U.S. Dept. of Energy/Office of Fossil Energy, prepared for the 2005 SPE/EPA/DOE Exploration and Production Environmental Conference, Galveston, Texas, 7-9 March.

The full-length paper summarizes work that documents the technological progress made by the oil and gas exploration and production industry and the environmental benefits realized from this progress. The paper provides quantitative evidence of the improvement in environmental performance made by the exploration and production industry, examines industry and societal trends, and highlights some of the specific technological improvements contributing to this improved environmental performance.

The Report Card

The combination of advancing technology and growing corporate awareness of the importance of addressing social and environmental issues has contributed to substantial environmental progress for society and for the oil and gas exploration and production industry. Major steps forward in environmental performance have been made, though a few setbacks also have been experienced. The following environmental indicators are showing a positive trend in the U.S.

- Since 1970, emissions of six principal pollutants (i.e., nitrogen dioxide, ozone, sulfur dioxide, particulates, carbon monoxide, and lead) decreased by 25% while U.S. gross domestic production increased by 161%, energy consumption grew 42%, and vehicle miles traveled rose 149%.

- Since the early 1990s, emissions of air toxics decreased by almost 24%.

- The rate of annual wetland losses decreased from almost 500,000 acres/yr 3 decades ago to less than 100,000 acres/yr, on average, since 1986.

- Between 1991 and 1997, volumes of the 17 most toxic chemicals in hazardous waste fell 44%.

- While the level of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the U.S. increased more than 13% since 1990, emissions per unit of real economic output declined by more than 22%.

Contributing to this improvement, the environmental and safety performance of the oil and gas industry has improved on the basis of the following important indicators.

- Pollutant emissions from refineries and exploration and production operations fell by 69% between 1970 and 1998.

- Toxics releases from refineries fell by 41% between 1988 and 1997.

- Participants in the Environmental Protection Agency’s voluntary Natural Gas Star program have eliminated 338 Bcf of methane (a potent GHG) from the atmosphere—equivalent to removing more than 30 million cars from the road for 1 year, or planting more than 41 million acres of trees.

- In the past decade, job-related injuries and illnesses of oil-and-gas-industry employees decreased by more than 30%.

- In the North Sea, total discharges have declined by 3,000 tonnes annually since 1996

- Industry spending on environmental activities averaged U.S. $9 billion per year in the last decade.