Accurate, real-time data to reduce our sources of emissions to the atmosphere

• TotalEnergies has pledged to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated by its activities, by at least 40% (2030/2015).
• The GHG Monitoring project, launched in 2020, actively contributes to this ambition.
• All the GHG emission and energy consumption data are collected in real time from Company sites, then centralized and analyzed at the CSTJF in Pau.

How can we reduce our emissions? By observing them to start with, explains Juan Guzman, an engineer in charge of the GHG Realtime Monitoring project, who works on the subject with different teams. “We monitor the atmospheric emissions of 10 of our affiliates worldwide, i.e. 33 oil and gas production sites. That means over 15,000 data tags or storage points on which we have to run calculations every 10 minutes! ” This observation helps obtain more accurate data on the items of equipment that consume energy and emit GHG, like turbines or boilers, and to define a set of standardized indicators. It is then possible to compare the sites, identify items of equipment that produce high volumes of emissions, make improvements to facilities, and so on. GHG monitoring is a data visualization and valorization tool. “We work on different emission sources: methane, liquid fuel, flaring, fuel gas. The items of equipment are well instrumented, and the sensors play their role in collecting data,” Juan adds. GHG Monitoring currently monitors 85% of TotalEnergies sites' emissions, in particular those generated by flaring, i.e. burning off gas which may be necessary to evacuate it rapidly in the event of a  build-up in the facilities (the flare is an item of safety equipment), and those generated by the use of fuel gas. For example, GHG Monitoring allows us to visualize the CO₂ emissions from turbines, using simple indicators such as power, fuel gas consumption and the GHG emissions per KWh. Useful information for comparing items of equipment and identifying improvements in the process. To make the data “visual”, GHG Monitoring uses software (PI) that converts the tags into graphs. In the affiliates, GHG Monitoring is boosting change: “These developments in operational philosophy are conducive to improvements. In Brazil for example, the turboshaft engines have been changed and their number reduced from three to two. In Argentina, closing the recycle valves on a compressor has improved its efficiency and reduced GHG,” explains the project manager.

 
GHG Monitoring also collects energy consumption data

The GHG Monitoring project is naturally mobilized as part of TotalEnergies’ approach to achieve energy efficiency. In September 2022, the Company announced a one billion US dollar plan over two years, to catalyze the transition. The target is to save 2 Mt CO₂e on the oil & gas perimeter and, as from 2025, limit emissions (Scopes 1 and 2*) to less than 38 Mt CO₂e/yr. To save energy, we need to know exactly how much power each item of equipment consumes, so that sources of inefficiency can be identified, and alternatives found. GHG is working on a project with connected industrial objects (IoT) to improve the “monitoring of high-energy consumers” in a drive to improve energy efficiency. It involves installing a new generation of IoT sensors on equipment to collect data in real time and then valorize them in data visualization software (PI Vision).
 

Find out more

• About what the CSTJF is doing to contribute to the ambition of our multi-energy Company: Low-carbon culture - TotalEnergies is committed and proactive!
• About TotalEnergies’ environmental ambitions: Environmental and climate issues (totalenergies.fr/en)

 
(*) Scope 1 GHG - Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions generated by company activities.

Scope 2 GHG - Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions generated by the import of net power (electricity, heat and steam) from possible energy sales, not including industrial gases purchased.