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.