Low-carbon culture - TotalEnergies is committed and proactive!

• In 2019, a Carbon Footprint Reduction (CFR) team was created in the Exploration & Production branch.  

• CFR calls on the technical experts at the CSTJF to support the reduction of CO2 and methane emissions in the affiliates.  

• The aim is ambitious: together with society, to achieve carbon neutrality (net zero emissions) by 2050, from the production to the use of the energy products sold (Scopes 1,2,3 of GHG*).  

To curb global warming, greenhouse gas emissions need to be drastically reduced. These include carbon dioxide (CO2), and also methane (CH4), which contributes 25 times more to the temperature increase over a century than CO2. It’s the challenge that the Carbon Footprint Reduction team has been tackling for two years now, in close liaison with the different Company business lines: Field Operations, Research & Development, Well performance, Drilling, etc. Its actions target the reduction of Scope 1 and 2 emissions, defined by the GreenHouse Gas Protocol (GHG Protocol). 

 

Reducing emissions in affiliates worldwide 

“Our roadmap has five targets,” explains Claire Dauba, deputy manager of the CFR entity and based at the CSTJF in Pau. The CFR team currently comprises seven members, and is overseen by Emmanuel Pradié.  

Target one: “Develop a low-carbon culture on all our production sites”. Several awareness-raising initiatives have been launched over the last two years:  

• The creation and launch of a serious game for oil & gas platform operators so that they can practice tangibly reducing GHG emissions through a fun approach.  

• Availability of training courses for operations personnel and petroleum architects to encourage a shift toward low-carbon practices, in particular the “Technical Training for Operations” courses, created by Field Operators at the CSTJF.

• In September 2020 a CFR intranet site was published online, and is home to a wealth of resources on low-carbon issues. 

Kick-off of a monthly webinar that brings together some 200 employees worldwide, so that the affiliates can share their successful emissions reduction practices with as many people as possible.  

“The second target on the CFR roadmap is to reduce emissions on existing sites”.

Claire Dauba continues, “we compiled all the proposals from the affiliates in a long-term plan for CO2 reduction projects. This gave us an outlook until 2030 which allowed us to evaluate the potential for progress in terms of volume, to identify suitable technical solutions and evaluate their cost. It’s an exercise we perform every year. This second target which aims to reduce emissions on our existing assets is crucial for us. To guarantee its success, many technological support projects are implemented, such as , a Methane Roadmap project, that specifically develops methane reduction techniques and a strategy”. Exploration & Production sites have four main emission sources: flaring in particular to ensure site safety, emissions related to logistics activities, the gases given off by turbines and turbo-compressors to generate power, and finally process vents. 

Target three: “Work on new low-carbon developments”. This means working toward a dynamic of virtuous projects – zero flaring, equipment electrification, renewable energies, etc. – to guarantee a low carbon intensity per barrel produced.

Target four: “Use the new technologies from R&D and digitization” to provide a better response to environmental and societal expectations. 

Target five: “Onboard partners and all our stakeholders” in this emissions reduction approach.  

 

The CSTJF, a major player in the low-carbon chain   

What are the aims? By 2025, the sum of TotalEnergies’ (operated assets) greenhouse gas emissions should drop beneath the threshold of 40 million tons, against 46 million tons emitted in 2015. The Company is aiming for a 40% reduction of its net emissions in 2030 and net zero in 2050. It’s a mighty challenge for the CSTJF. Owing to the business lines present on the site and its role in providing technical support to the affiliates, it is the source of innovative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Based at the CSTJF and in the affiliates, the Field Operations Division is an essential player in reducing GHG emissions as they are at the helm on the sites to implement emission reduction projects. 

 

Research & Development, an innovation incubator 

Just like Field Operations liaises with the affiliates, Research & Development is an essential lever in reducing greenhouse gases. Its ZEREM (Zero Carbon Emission Assets) program is part of its research priorities. It develops low-carbon technologies for production sites: reuse and optimization of subsurface energy, energy from the oceans, decarbonization of gas turbines, etc. The R&D department is also working on a low-carbon gas chain as part of the Sustainable Development program. The Platform for Experimental Research in Lacq, is also a major contributor to the low-carbon project. Since 2018, the Lacq Pilots Platform has been hosting  TADI (TotalEnergies Anomaly Detection Initiatives), the only test infrastructure of its kind in the world, stretching over 2,000 m2, and dedicated to safety (prevention of major accidents) and the environment (emissions reduction). The AUSEA spectrometer tests, onboard a drone, were also run at the PERL, and designed to track greenhouse gas emissions.  

 

All the business lines are involved 

The R&D Division isn’t the only one involved in TotalEnergies' low carbon strategy. The Customer Lines are at the forefront at the CSTJF and responsible for helping the affiliates complete their studies and projects. These include GHG reduction projects, and the WAG ‘West Africa Group’ is very proactive on this issue. The CO2 Customer Line is also very active with its team dedicated to CO2 Capture and Geological Storage.

The Drilling, Geosciences and Reservoir, Well Performance, etc. departments also play their part. “We can see that today the entire production chain can take action” analyzes Claire Dauba. Drilling and Logistics with improved vessel monitoring, Geosciences and Reservoir using new algorithms to adapt the management of oil & gas reservoirs depending on their energy demand.  “Over the last couple of years, progress has been amazing, but we need to continue these efforts because emission reduction ambitions are increasing and climate change is inexorable,” concludes Claire Dauba.  

 

 

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