Electrifying offshore platforms targets a tiny fraction of the oil industry’s emissions

We are all familiar with the greenhouse gas emissions that come from burning fossil fuels in car engines, central heating systems and power stations. Little discussed is the climate footprint of producing oil and gas in the first place.

Extracting, refining and distributing oil and gas requires energy. Pumps, compressors, heaters and drilling units treat and move the fuels from many kilometres underground using electricity typically generated by gas turbines. Clearly, burning gas at offshore production sites will result in local emissions of climate-heating CO₂.