Crude oil mix; technology mix of conventional (primary, secondary and tertiary production) and unconventional production (oil sands, in-situ); production mix (region specific plants), at consumer
The data set covers the entire supply chain of crude oil. This includes well drilling, crude oil production and processing as well as transportation via pipeline resp. vessel. Main technologies such as conventional (primary, secondary, tertiary) and unconventional production (oil sands, in-situ), both including parameters like energy consumption, transport distances, crude oil processing technologies are individually considered for each production country. All crude oil delivering countries, including domestic production, contribute by their corresponding shares (taken from national statistics) to the crude oil mix. The inventory is mainly based on secondary data. The data set can be used for all LCA/CF studies where crude oil (i.e. refinery) is needed. Combination with individual unit processes using this commodity enables the generation of user-specific (product) LCAs.
Foreground system:
The country / region specific crude oil consumption mix, mix indigenous produced crude oil with imports of crude oil from the corresponding producing countries. The mix can be seen for a specific country / region as average crude oil consumed. The pie chart presented below represents the crude oil consumption mix.
For the crude oil transportation the following modelling is used:
Indigenous production: For national offshore production a pipeline transport between the oil field and the shore is considered. For national onshore production no specific pipeline is modelled.
Imports: Starting from an exporting country / region crude oil is either transported via pipeline directly to the border of the consumer country / region or via tanker vessels. In case of vessel transport, the crude oil is in some cases first transferred in pipelines to the next export terminal within the exporting countries in other cases the crude oil is directly exported from the oil platforms.
For the whole crude oil supply (indigenous production and imports), an average regional distribution (via pipeline) is estimated. This regional distribution averages the distance from the shore or onshore production site resp. the vessel terminal or border of long distance import pipeline to the consumer.
The data set considers the whole supply chain of crude oil, i.e. exploration, production, processing, the long distance transport and the regional distribution to the final consumer. Losses occurring during transportation via pipeline or vessel are included.
The upstream process for crude oil production is described in detail in the linked data source "Upstream of Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) and Sulphur production".
Background system:
Electricity: Electricity is modelled according to the individual country-specific situations. The country-specific modelling is achieved on multiple levels. Firstly, individual energy carrier specific power plants and plants for renewable energy sources are modelled according to the current national electricity grid mix. Modelling the electricity consumption mix includes transmission / distribution losses and the own use by energy producers (own consumption of power plants and "other" own consumption e.g. due to pumped storage hydro power etc.), as well as imported electricity. Secondly, the national emission and efficiency standards of the power plants are modelled as well as the share of electricity plants and combined heat and power plants (CHP). Thirdly, the country-specific energy carrier supply (share of imports and / or domestic supply) including the country-specific energy carrier properties (e.g. element and energy content) are accounted for. Fourthly, the exploration, mining/production, processing and transport processes of the energy carrier supply chains are modelled according to the specific situation of each electricity producing country. The different production and processing techniques (emissions and efficiencies) in the different energy producing countries are considered, e.g. different crude oil production technologies or different flaring rates at the oil platforms.
Thermal energy, process steam: The thermal energy and process steam supply is modelled according to the individual country-specific situation with regard to emission standards and considered energy carriers. The thermal energy and process steam are produced at heat plants. Efficiencies for thermal energy production are by definition 100% in relation to the corresponding energy carrier input. For process steam the efficiency ranges from 85%, 90% to 95%. The energy carriers used for the generation of thermal energy and process steam are modelled according to the specific import situation (see electricity above).
Transports: All relevant and known transport processes are included. Ocean-going and inland ship transport as well as rail, truck and pipeline transport of bulk commodities are considered.
Energy carriers: The energy carriers are modelled according to the specific supply situation (see electricity above).
Refinery products: Diesel fuel, gasoline, technical gases, fuel oils, lubricants and residues such as bitumen are modelled with a parameterised country-specific refinery model. The refinery model represents the current national standard in refining techniques (e.g. emission level, internal energy consumption, etc.) as well as the individual country-specific product output spectrum, which can be quite different from country to country. The supply of crude oil is modelled, again, according to the country-specific situation with the respective properties of the resources.
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