Based on our findings, the oil and gas (O&G) sector has struggled to keep pace with the digital revolution. This tends to hamper emissions aggregation. Fortunately, data used to manage operations across the value chain—such as controls information, flow assurance, and production accounting data—can serve as building blocks for the needed transparency.

Carbon reduction is an industrywide effort requiring unprecedented collaboration among companies and individual organizations. Yet the O&G industry tends to operate in silos defined by assets, regions, or business segments—an issue exacerbated when acquisitions have not been fully integrated.

Regulators are standardizing the measurement of carbon using the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard, Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) standards, and Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) standards. In addition, markets are evolving without standardization to require and incentivize carbon reductions.

The O&G industry has rarely faced as much pressure, in the form of investor, regulatory, and other stakeholder demands, to act in ways that may undercut its profitability. This realization is evidenced by hydrocarbon companies’ voluntary public commitments to achieve a net-zero carbon footprint over defined time frames.