Energy Intensity and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Tight Oil Production in the Bakken Formation

Brandt, Adam R.; Yeskoo, Tim; McNally, Michael S.; Vafi, Kourosh; Yeh, Sonia; Cai, Hao; Wang, Michael Q.

doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b01907

Cited by 49 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 28 publications

(58 reference statements)

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“…During the preparation of this manuscript, Brandt et al published an LCA of Bakken crude at the website of Argonne National Labs (26). This study, like ours, used data from the North Dakota Department of Mineral resources.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater consumption associated with Bakken tight oil

Laurenzi

Bergerson

Motazedi

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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In recent years, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been applied to extract crude oil from tight reservoirs, including the Bakken formation. There is growing interest in understanding the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the development of tight oil. We conducted a life cycle assessment of Bakken crude using data from operations throughout the supply chain, including drilling and completion, refining, and use of refined products. If associated gas is gathered throughout the Bakken well life cycle, then the well to wheel GHG emissions are estimated to be 89 g CO 2 eq/MJ (80% CI, 87-94) of Bakken-derived gasoline and 90 g CO 2 eq/MJ (80% CI, 88-94) of diesel. If associated gas is flared for the first 12 mo of production, then life cycle GHG emissions increase by 5% on average. Regardless of the level of flaring, the Bakken life cycle GHG emissions are comparable to those of other crudes refined in the United States because flaring GHG emissions are largely offset at the refinery due to the physical properties of this tight oil. We also assessed the life cycle freshwater consumptions of Bakken-derived gasoline and diesel to be 1.14 (80% CI, 0.67-2.15) and 1.22 barrel/barrel (80% CI, 0.71-2.29), respectively, 13% of which is associated with hydraulic fracturing.life cycle assessment | unconventional resources | petroleum | hydraulic fracturing | flaring

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater consumption associated with Bakken tight oil

Laurenzi

Bergerson

Motazedi

2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…This is a notably higher value than observed over Los Angeles [ Wennberg et al ., ; Peischl et al ., ] or over the Barnett shale in Texas [ Smith et al ., ], where molar enhancement ratios tended to remain below 15%. This very high C 2 H 6 :CH 4 enhancement ratio in the Bakken is consistent with an oil‐bearing reservoir rich in higher hydrocarbons and exhibiting a C 2 H 6 :CH 4 ratio of 42% based on 710 reported belowground gas composition measurements (Table ) [ Brandt et al ., ]. The close correspondence of atmospheric enhancement ratios to the reservoir gas composition indicates that emissions to the atmosphere in the Bakken shale are dominated by loss of raw gas rather than processed gas.…”

Section: Observations and Ethane Flux Estimatementioning

confidence: 98%

“…Average Molar Composition of Natural Gas in the Bakken Shale (Means Normalized to 100%) as Reported inBrandt et al [2015] …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fugitive emissions from the Bakken shale illustrate role of shale production in global ethane shift

Kort

Smith

Murray

et al. 2016

Geophysical Research Letters

106

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Ethane is the second most abundant atmospheric hydrocarbon, exerts a strong influence on tropospheric ozone, and reduces the atmosphere's oxidative capacity. Global observations showed declining ethane abundances from 1984 to 2010, while a regional measurement indicated increasing levels since 2009, with the reason for this subject to speculation. The Bakken shale is an oil and gas‐producing formation centered in North Dakota that experienced a rapid increase in production beginning in 2010. We use airborne data collected over the North Dakota portion of the Bakken shale in 2014 to calculate ethane emissions of 0.23 ± 0.07 (2σ) Tg/yr, equivalent to 1–3% of total global sources. Emissions of this magnitude impact air quality via concurrent increases in tropospheric ozone. This recently developed large ethane source from one location illustrates the key role of shale oil and gas production in rising global ethane levels.

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“…The share of shale oil production as a fraction of the total crude production in the US has increased from 14% in 2010 to 48% in 2015 [52]. The present study estimated the energy intensity and GHG emissions of shale oil using the parameters for shale oil recovery reported by Brandt et al [53] and Ghandi et al [54] for the Bakken and Eagle Ford plays, respectively, while the conventional crude recovery parameters are based on those of Burnham et al [55]. …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Well-to-wake analysis of ethanol-to-jet and sugar-to-jet pathways

Han

Tao

Wang

2017

Biotechnol Biofuels

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BackgroundTo reduce the environmental impacts of the aviation sector as air traffic grows steadily, the aviation industry has paid increasing attention to bio-based alternative jet fuels (AJFs), which may provide lower life-cycle petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than petroleum jet fuel. This study presents well-to-wake (WTWa) results for four emerging AJFs: ethanol-to-jet (ETJ) from corn and corn stover, and sugar-to-jet (STJ) from corn stover via both biological and catalytic conversion. For the ETJ pathways, two plant designs were examined: integrated (processing corn or corn stover as feedstock) and distributed (processing ethanol as feedstock). Also, three H2 options for STJ via catalytic conversion are investigated: external H2 from natural gas (NG) steam methane reforming (SMR), in situ H2, and H2 from biomass gasification.ResultsResults demonstrate that the feedstock is a key factor in the WTWa GHG emissions of ETJ: corn- and corn stover-based ETJ are estimated to produce WTWa GHG emissions that are 16 and 73%, respectively, less than those of petroleum jet. As for the STJ pathways, this study shows that STJ via biological conversion could generate WTWa GHG emissions 59% below those of petroleum jet. STJ via catalytic conversion could reduce the WTWa GHG emissions by 28% with H2 from NG SMR or 71% with H2 from biomass gasification than those of petroleum jet. This study also examines the impacts of co-product handling methods, and shows that the WTWa GHG emissions of corn stover-based ETJ, when estimated with a displacement method, are lower by 11 g CO2e/MJ than those estimated with an energy allocation method.ConclusionCorn- and corn stover-based ETJ as well as corn stover-based STJ show potentials to reduce WTWa GHG emissions compared to petroleum jet. Particularly, WTWa GHG emissions of STJ via catalytic conversion depend highly on the hydrogen source. On the other hand, ETJ offers unique opportunities to exploit extensive existing corn ethanol plants and infrastructure, and to provide a boost to staggering ethanol demand, which is largely being used as gasoline blendstock.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13068-017-0698-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Energy Intensity and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Tight Oil Production in the Bakken Formation

Cited by 49 publications

References 28 publications

Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater consumption associated with Bakken tight oil

Life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and freshwater consumption associated with Bakken tight oil

Fugitive emissions from the Bakken shale illustrate role of shale production in global ethane shift

Well-to-wake analysis of ethanol-to-jet and sugar-to-jet pathways

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