Greenhouse gas emissions from global oil and gas fields: Field-level inventory and analysis of key drivers

The oil and gas extraction industry is at the forefront of today’s energy transition, balancing the need to meet global energy demands while addressing the urgent challenge of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. There were 12,874 oil and gas fields in operation worldwide between 2010 and 2021, with a significant aggregation of large GHG emitters. The key drivers and characteristics of GHG emissions in the global oil and gas extraction industry (considering resource type, geolocation, and decision-makers) remain poorly understood, yet are crucial for identifying key emitters and supporting targeted emission reductions. Here, we developed a field-level time-series global inventory of GHG emissions from oil and gas production to evaluate the emission reduction potential of key contributors from 2010 to 2021. Our findings reveal that 55.9% of cumulative emissions are financed by investors from high-income countries, though since 2014, lower-income countries have increasingly self-funded their emissions. Just 20 fields (0.2% of all fields) are responsible for 21.2% of cumulative emissions, located primarily in the Middle East & North Africa and Other Europe & CIS regions. These key emitters, primarily backed by high-income investors, are characterized by aging infrastructure and high depletion ratios, contributing to high carbon intensities. Our results highlight the importance of tailored, field-specific measures—considering geolocation, resource type, field age, and terrain—to achieve substantial, targeted reductions in global oil and gas emissions.