Most polluting oil types worldwide

Canada's oil sands are the most polluting oil types produced in the world today. Synthetic crude oil originating from the Athabasca oil sands in Canada has an emission intensity between 729 and 736 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per barrel, depending on the conversion type. Of the five leading emitters, three were Canadian oil types. Canada's oil sands production has significantly increased since 2015, reaching 171 million cubic meters in 2019.

Estimated greenhouse gas emissions of crude oil types worldwide* (in kilograms of CO² equivalent per barrel)

Characteristic	Emissions in kilograms of CO² equivalent per barrel
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-
-	-

Download

Source

Show detailed source information?

Already a member?

Source

Use Ask Statista Research Service

Release date

October 2016

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

2016

Supplementary notes

* Total emissions stemming from extraction, land and water use, refining, and combustion.

Data was acquired between 2013 and 2015.
The source adds the following information on methodology:
"GHG emissions estimates are based on equivalent GHG emissions for carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, combining these into one result using different global warming potentials (GWPs) that compare the other GHGs to carbon dioxide. (...)
The degree of uncertainty in the GHG emissions estimates modeled through the OCI depends on the quality of the data. We considered data quality within two kinds of parameters: crude assay and field-characterization methods on the one hand, and characterization of real-world operations on the other. Natural and technical variability, especially as these relate to changing operations over time, affect the quality of these OCI input data. (...)
Within three data quality elements—reliability and reproducibility, consistency and completeness, accuracy—inputs for each model were scored using [different] criteria. (...)
Discrepancies and inconsistencies in OCI model inputs can occur because of different public data sources and lack of coordinated data collection."

Citation formats