Project Background

Oil Climate Index (OCI)

A first-of-its-kind, open-source analytic tool that offers a fully transparent method to analyze greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions differences between oil and gas resources over time.  By assessing the life-cycle carbon footprints of a majority of the world’s oil and gas resources, stakeholders can identify where in the value chain the largest emissions occur and advance innovations that make the deepest cuts in emissions. 

A brief history of the OCI

2013:

• Gordon initiates the OCI with partners from Stanford University and the University of Calgary

2015:

• OCI Version 1.0 is launched, modeling 30 global oils (5% of global oil production)

• Gordon and her team find nearly an order of magnitude difference in per-barrel GHGs among oil producers and a similar range among oil refiners

2016:

• OCI Version 2.0 is launched, modeling 75 global oils (30% of global oil production)

• Gordon and her team confirm the results from 2015 for their larger sample of oils

• The OCI begins to be cited widely in national and international energy policy (examples: the Congressional legislation, Know Your Oil Act; China’s ban on high-sulfur petroleum imports from the U.S.)

2018:

• OCI Version 2.5 is launched, the International Energy Agency’s methane emission estimates are added to the model

2020:

• Preview of OCI+ Beta launched, modeling 30 global oil and gas resources

2022:

• Model one-half of all global oil and gas assets and relaunch the OCI+ web tool at RMI

OCI’s underlying models

Three GHG-emission-estimation models are aggregated to create the Oil-Climate Index:

1. OPGEE (the Oil Production Greenhouse Gas Emissions Estimator) was developed by Adam Brandt and his colleagues at Stanford University

2. PRELIM (the Petroleum Refinery Life-Cycle Inventory Model) estimates midstream refining GHG emissions from the refinery inlet to the outlet, as well as refined petroleum product yields. PRELIM was developed by Joule Bergerson and her colleagues at the University of Calgary.

3. OPEM (the Oil Products Emissions Module) estimates downstream GHG emissions (from the refinery outlet) that result from the transport and end use of all oil products from a given crude. OPEM was developed by Deborah Gordon, Eugene Tan, Jonathan Koomey, and Jeffrey Feldman.

Model outputs are standardized by converting them into the same functional units, or metrics, so emission results can be summed. The index estimates GHG emissions based on these functional units: per barrel of crude produced, according to the energy content of all final petroleum products (in megajoules), and per dollar value of all petroleum products sold. Read more about the underlying models