Energy return on energy, carbon, and water investment in oil and gas resource extraction: Methods and applications to the Daqing and Shengli oilfields

Abstract Effective policy requires comprehensive analysis of many factors. But presently there does not exist a sufficiently comprehensive research on the interrelationship between energy input and output, carbon emissions, and water use in the oil and gas extraction process. To more comprehensively measure this phenomenon, this paper constructs an assessment model of energy return on energy, carbon, and water investment for the development of oil and gas resources using the Daqing and Shengli oilfields as practical examples. The results show that the method for evaluating energy input and output (energy return on energy invested) can be made more comprehensive for covering the resources required in the oilfield extraction process; this method ignores the environmental impacts of carbon emissions (energy return on carbon) and water use (energy return on water). However, the energy return evaluation method, which considers energy, carbon, and water inputs, is more comprehensive and practically used to evaluate the development status of oil and gas resources as well as other types of energy development processes. Policy implications for biophysical input accounting and the management of energy resource extraction are given accordingly.