Cradle to Gate
Identity ID
cd7d8f6c-edb1-4f4e-bf38-2092ab07f19e
Materials
Associated ID
c52d5745-295c-4e52-9c9d-7bd58a6bf3c0
Included activities starts
Included activities ends
Description
This process includes oil extraction and surface handling stages. It covers methane emissions (fugitive emissions and flaring), produced water discharges, and direct energy use during oil production activities such as drilling, oil pumping, gas injection, and flaring. Flaring refers to the practice by oil and gas companies of transporting combustible waste gases generated during various production processes to a flare or waste gas combustion system for incineration. Additionally, emissions from spills associated with drilling and pumping operations are included in this inventory, but crude oil spills related to transportation and refining are not included. The production of crude oil and natural gas is often closely related and requires material allocation, commonly based on energy content to ensure scientific fairness and rational distribution. Heavy oil reservoirs refer to reservoirs where the viscosity of the stored crude oil exceeds 50 mPa·s under reservoir conditions. Crude oil in heavy oil reservoirs has high viscosity and poor fluidity, making it difficult to extract. Low-permeability oilfields with 80--90% water cut refer to those where the produced fluid from the wells contains 80--90% water; this section assumes a water cut of 85%. The net calorific value of crude oil is 43.4 MJ/kg, with an average calorific value of natural gas being 36 MJ/Sm³. Modeled using representative data on production technologies, which reflects the average production level in China. This dataset is based on literature data and has been optimized and modeled using the best available information from 2023.
Activity Description
This dataset represents onshore extraction of oil and gas from low-permeability oilfields using gas injection methods. The process includes oil production and surface processing stages. The oil production phase involves lifting oil and gas to the surface using pumping units. Surface processing mainly includes three-phase separation of oil, gas, and water, as well as transportation of oil and gas.
Process Description
Natural gas is a non-toxic, colorless, odorless gas whose main component is methane, usually containing small amounts of ethane, propane, butane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, etc. Under standard conditions, the density of natural gas is approximately 0.7174 kg/m³, and its net calorific value is 36.0 MJ/m³. High-pressure natural gas extracted from oil and gas production is primarily supplied for use by large consumers such as power plants and industrial facilities.
Time period
2022
2026
Geography
China
Geography comment
technological representative data
Macroeconomic value
Business-as-Usual
Data validation
Yes
Technology
Current Technology
Technology comment
The application effect of gas injection enhanced oil recovery technology is particularly significant in reservoirs that are difficult to exploit, such as those with low permeability and high viscosity. Gas injection has become one of the primary enhanced oil recovery methods for tertiary oil recovery in oilfields. This technology accounts for more than half of the total oil production from tertiary recovery methods. Gas injection enhanced oil recovery involves injecting gas into the reservoir to supplement formation energy, where an injecting medium (natural gas or air) is injected into the reservoir to displace residual crude oil toward surrounding production wells, thereby enhancing oil recovery rates.