Temporal Estimation of the Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of Five Major Petroleum Fields
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This thesis estimates changes in the energy return on investment (EROI) of five large petroleum fields over time using the Oilfield Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator (OPGEE). Cantarell (Mexico), Forties (U.K.), Midway-Sunset (U.S.), Prudhoe Bay (U.S.), and Wilmington (U.S.) are the selected fields. Data on field properties and production/processing parameters were obtained from a combination of government and technical literature sources. Key areas of uncertainty include details of the oil and gas surface processing schemes. Four EROI ratios are estimated for each field as follows: Two ratios, (1) the net energy ratio (NER) and (2) the external energy ratio (EER), are calculated, each using two measures of energy returns, (1) oil-only and (2) all energy outputs. All fields display significant declines in NER over the modeling period driven by a combination of (1) reduced petroleum production and (2) increased energy expenditures on recovery methods such as water injection, steam injection, and gas injection. The fields mentioned above had NER reductions ranging from 46% to 88% over the modeling periods (calculated using all energy outputs). EER estimates are subject to greater uncertainty due to the relatively small magnitude of external and fuel cycle energy investments as compared to the combined sum of internal, external, and fuel cycle energy investments. EER profiles are more varied due to factors such as the assumption of on-site electricity generation using produced natural gas at offshore fields. At one extreme, EER at Cantarell, which received relatively few external energy inputs, remained above 200 during the modeling period (calculated using all energy inputs). A contrasting example is EER at Wilmington, which began above 500 and ended at 23 (calculated using all energy inputs), due to a large increase in external energy investments over the modeling period.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | June 2016 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Tripathi, Vinay Shankar |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Brandt, Adam R. |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Department of Energy Resources Engineering |
Subjects
| Subject | School of Earth Energy & Environmental Sciences |
|---|---|
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
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Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Tripathi, Vinay Shankar. (2016). Temporal Estimation of the Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of Five Major Petroleum Fields. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/qg339yk5817
Collection
Master's Theses, Doerr School of Sustainability
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- brannerlibrary@stanford.edu
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