Analysis of the Energy Return on Investment (EROI) of the Huge Daqing Oil Field in China

Yan Hu, Lianyong Feng, Charles C.S. Hall and Dong Tian
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Yan Hu: Office 623, School of Business Administration, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Lianyong Feng: Office 623, School of Business Administration, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China
Charles C.S. Hall: Graduate Program in Environmental Science, College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
Dong Tian: Office 623, School of Business Administration, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, China

Sustainability, 2011, vol. 3, issue 12, 1-16

Abstract: In China there has been considerable discussion of how one should express the efficiency of energy conversion and production. Energy return on investment (EROI) can be useful for this because its methodology is based on outputs and inputs. Unfortunately, similar to the rest of the world, most of the data available for assessing energy gains and costs for oil and gas in China has to be derived from economic costs and revenues for oil fields. In this paper we derive a first EROI for China based on using this approach and the existing data for production of crude oil and natural gas for the Daqing oil field, the largest oil field in China. We estimate that its EROI stnd expressed as heat equivalent was 10:1 in 2001 but has declined to 6.5:1 in 2009. Based on this trend we project that the EROI stnd will decline to 4.7:1 in 2015, and the net energy from the field will be decreasing substantially. The calculations have some errors because of incomplete data, and if various externalities are taken into account, the EROI of this oil field would be lower than our present estimates. The trends of EROI and net energy suggest that the Daqing oil field will face more difficulty in the future which can not be overcome by government fiat.

Keywords: EROI; Daqing oil field; net energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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