How much pollution does oil produce

There is a strong argument that oil and gas development as currently regulated is worse for the climate than coal. In association with methane emissions, the oil and gas industry pollutes the air with different gases that threaten human health:. VOCs and NOx compounds nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide combine with sunlight and produce smog , which is hazardous to human health and can cause premature death.

The Exxon Valdez incident was the biggest oil spill in the United States until April , when an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil well off the Gulf Coast resulted in an oil spill that released millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Natural gas development can pollute drinking water sources during drilling, fracking, refining, or disposing of waste water without measures to protect water resources. Methane and other gases can leak into drinking water sources, and though methane is not linked to serious health effects, it is flammable and can combust at levels of 5 percent or more.

Methane and volatile organic chemicals VOCs can seep into groundwater sources near natural gas wells if the wells are poorly constructed or broken.

Groundwater and surface water can also be impacted by surface leaks or if fracking fluid is spilled. State and federal regulations cover all produced water, flowback, and refinery waste. On December 13, , the Environmental Protection Agency EPA released a final report requested by Congress in on the impact of hydraulic fracturing fracking on drinking water resources.

The EPA report stated that there was "scientific evidence that hydraulic fracturing activities can impact drinking water resources in the United States under some circumstances. That conclusion was deleted in its final version, which argued that "fracking could impact drinking water throughout the drilling process.

The December report is a finalized version of an interim report issued by the EPA in , in which the agency "did not find evidence that these mechanisms have led to widespread, systemic impacts on drinking water resources in the United States.

The EPA concluded in some circumstances that poorly constructed drilling wells and incorrect wastewater management affected drinking water resources, particularly near drilling sites. According to the report, effects on drinking water "ranged in severity, from temporary changes in water quality to contamination that made private drinking wells unusable.

The report focused on the potential impact on these water sources during five stages of the fracking process: [21] [22]. Part C of the act required the EPA to establish underground injection control programs "to prevent underground injection which endangers drinking water sources. The act effectively permitted state and local governments to regulate fracking as the process relates to underground drinking water sources, though state regulations must meet the minimum requirements outlined in applicable federal regulations.

In addition, state regulations apply to fracking on federal lands , and holders of federal leases must follow federal and state regulations on fracking. In , the U. Bureau of Land Management BLM issued a regulation on fracking on federal lands , specifically regarding the regulation of wellbore construction, chemical disclosure, and water management, all of which fall under existing federal and state regulations. Two industry groups, the Independent Petroleum Association of America and the Western Energy Alliance , filed a suit challenging the regulation; the Sierra Club , an environmental group, filed a brief supporting the BLM.

On September 30, , Judge Scott W. Skavdahl of the U. District Court for Wyoming blocked the rule from going into effect. According to the court's opinion, "The issue before this Court is not whether hydraulic fracturing is good or bad for the environment or the citizens of the United States. Department of the Interior and by extension to the BLM to regulate fracking, which the court ruled that Congress had not. In addition to the above four states, Alaska , Kansas , Montana , and Texas filed an amicus brief in the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in opposition to the rule in September For more information on state-specific fracking regulations, click here.

Oil spills on land can occur via pipeline leaks, railroad accidents, poor oil storage, natural seeping into land or soil, poor working practices, drilling accidents, and more. Nothing drives up carbon intensity like the practice of routinely burning, or flaring, natural gas, the researchers found. But the research shows that a country like Algeria, which produces the lightest crude oil in the world, has the highest carbon intensity because oilfield operators routinely burn large amounts of gas.

Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has relatively low carbon intensity because it flares little gas and has vast resources with low water content, which means less energy goes into treating and separating the oil. The revelation suggests that investment in infrastructure and policies to better manage natural gas could deliver greater climate benefits than previously thought.

The paper finds Venezuela and Canada rank among the most carbon-intensive oil producers because of the high energy needs and emissions associated with extracting heavy oil from unconventional reserves like tar sands. And so-called enhanced recovery techniques that use steam to loosen oil from aging wells add to the relatively high carbon intensity of oil production in places like Indonesia, Oman and California. And over the coming century, the world could avoid as much as 18 gigatons of emissions from the oil production expected to continue under even aggressive scenarios for shifting away from fossil fuels — mainly by halting extraction of the dirtiest resources and improving gas management.

But until now, large gaps remained in even the best estimates of emissions from crude oil production on a global scale because they worked backward from economic data, calculating how many barrels oil companies were likely to have produced based on oil prices in a given period. The new simulator, by contrast, calculates emissions from the bottom up. The researchers developed models of the physical processes involved at each stage from initial exploration through transport to refineries.

Data-intensive calculations for a single field could require measures for up to 50 parameters, including oil density, production rates and the amount of natural gas that the operator burned or captured in pipelines — as well as whether a producer injects water or steam to coax crude from wells, or uses some other method.

Air toxics are pollutants known, or suspected of causing cancer and other serious health effects. Skip to main content. Contact Us.