Exploration of the environmental implications of ageing conventional oil reserves with relational analysis
Parra, Rony (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Bukkens, Sandra (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Giampietro, Mario (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)

Date:	2020
Abstract:	A novel method based on relational analysis is presented for assessing the performance of conventional oil exploitation and its environmental implications, with a focus on the energy-water nexus. It considers the energy system as a metabolic network and integrates various factors relevant for technical, economic and environmental processes, thus avoiding some of the simplifications inherent in conventional approaches to the assessment of primary resource quality, such as economic cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and the energy return on investment (EROI). Relational analysis distinguishes between functional (notional) and structural (tangible) elements in the metabolic network, which allows a simultaneous characterization and geo-localization of the exploitation process across different scales and dimensions of analysis. Key aspects of the approach are illustrated with data from the Ecuadorian oil sector spanning the period 1972-2018. It is shown that by establishing a relation among the characteristics of the exploited oil fields (oil typology, age of field) and those of the exploitation process (requirement of energy carriers, labor, freshwater and power capacity and generation of greenhouse gases and oil-produced water), changes in the performance and environmental implications of the oil extraction system can be characterized at different points in space and time.
Grants:	European Commission 689669 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad MDM-2015-0552
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Ageing ; Conventional oil ; Ecuador ; Energy-water nexus ; Produced water ; Relational analysis ; Resource quality
Published in:	Science of the total environment, Vol. 749 (2020) , art. 142371, ISSN 1879-1026

DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142371
PMID: 33370889

13 p, 3.0 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Integrated Assessment: Sociology, Technology and the Environment (IASTE)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles