Oil, extracted

The data here is provided by Plastics Europe association. According to that website, to extract 1 kg crude oil, we need 0.1 MJ electricity, we need to burn enough oil to produce 0.13 MJ heat, and enough natural gas to produce 1.2 MJ heat.

In addition to emissions caused by the additional energy input, there are emissions caused by evaporation, by "flaring" (i.e., burning unused gas and oil), and by distribution of the oil. In particular, per 1 kg of crude oil, we have additional pollution of:

• 1.15 g of methane,
• 0.8 g of hydrocarbon (we will treat them as Volatile Organic Compounds), and
• 2.5 g of carbon dioxide.

Even though crude oil and natural gas are often co-produced, the numbers here reflect only the portion attributed to the oil extraction (by energy content of the products).

Spills are one of the major problems for oil extraction. It is estimated that about 0.25% of total oil production enters the oceans in forms of spills and leaks. We will approximate it as Chemical Waste.