 Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases
As top scientists around the world debate the nature of climate change, the oil and natural gas industry is moving ahead to ensure that operations and products are increasingly energy efficient and environmentally benign.
It is estimated that all human activity, including all combustion—for transportation, building heat, power generation, industrial manufacturing—generates less than five percent of total atmospheric carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide (CO2), a naturally occurring compound, is considered a greenhouse gas because it helps trap heat from the sun.
Oil and natural gas scientists and engineers are among the world’s foremost experts on methods for estimating and reporting greenhouse gas emissions. Industry is researching promising technological advances that will improve operations efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions—technologies like cogeneration, gasification, and alternatives to flaring. Other innovations under examination include technologies that would store carbon dioxide in natural formations, such as geological formations or in the ocean.
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