A cursory review of data presented in the Carbon Disclosure Project's (CDP) Global 500 Report for 2009 provides some interesting insights into the emissions intensity of companies operating in the energy sector.
Notwithstanding the difficulty of computing values, the inclusion of Scope 3 greenhouse gases in a comparative assessment of emissions (Figure 2) suggests that the performance of many of the oil majors lies between 1,500 and 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide / US$ million of revenue. The inclusion of Scope 3 gases typically increases the total of reported emissions some five fold, which lies within a range of results from early research by Carnegie Mellon that suggested Scope 1 and 2 emissions from (US) industries represented on average, only a quarter of the gases released in supply chains.
Emissions Intensity of Companies in the Energy Sector (1)
Source: Carbon Disclosure Project 2009 - Global 500 report sited above
Note: Intensities based only on Scope 1 and 2 emissions of carbon dioxide
appear to show considerable scatter across sector.
Emissions Intensity of Companies in the Energy Sector (2)
Source: Carbon Disclosure Project 2009 - Global 500 report sited above
It may be noted that BG (British Gas) Group with one of the highest 'carbon footprints' has also been placed highly in a recent assurance review of how FTSE 350 companies verify their reported greenhouse gas emissions. At this time it is not known if other oil majors have under-reported their Scope 3 emissions (most likely in the case of Exxon Mobil) or if BG operates specific types of plants that have high emission profiles and embedded energy content.
Companies also demonstrate wide variation in energy intensities by virtue of the different roles they perform in the sector. For example, of the companies that reported to the Carbon Disclosure Project:
- BP, Chevron, China Petroleum, ENI, Exxon Mobil, Gazprom, Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell and Total are integrated oil and gas producers with large market capitalisations.
- Companies such as El Paso, Noble Energy, Premier, Talisman are mid-tier oil and gas entities.
- AMEC, Petrofac and the Wood Group are EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) contractors who design, but do not have to account for emissions associated with the operation of plant.
- Baker Hughes, BJ Services, Diamond Offshore, Halliburton, Smith International and Weatherford are service companies in the oil and gas sector.
- Cameron International is a vendor/supplier of equipment.
It has been suggested in private correspondence to the CDP that a more effective comparison of emission intensities would be achieved by identifying companies in the EPC, service and vendor sub-sectors more clearly or if deemed appropriate, re-assigning them to other industrial classifications.
Operating companies should also be encouraged to report details of their methane emissions.
