Billy Eakin, left, the State of Louisiana Department of Environment
Quality SWLA office manager, presents the Energy Star award to
John Gott, Lake Charles refinery general manager.
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Since the combustion of energy is a primary contributor to
greenhouse gas emissions, we continually strive to make our
operations more energy efficient, thus providing an environmental
benefit through reduced air emissions, as well as an economic
benefit by lowering the cost of production.
Growth in operations has increased our total energy use, although
our energy use per unit of production has remained steady. Total
energy consumption by ConocoPhillips in 2006
(figs. 14 & 15)
was approximately 827 trillion British Thermal Units (BTUs), an
increase of 10 percent from 2005 attributable to the company’s
larger scale. The refining and marketing sector, which represents
two-thirds of the company’s energy consumption, increased its
energy use primarily due to the addition of the Wilhelmshaven
refinery and resumption of normal operations at the Alliance
refinery following a lengthy shutdown due to hurricane damage
in 2005, partly offset by reductions from asset dispositions.
The exploration and production and midstream sector increased
its energy use primarily due to the addition of the Burlington
Resources assets, the start-up of the Darwin liquefied natural
gas plant in Australia and increases at a gas plant in Indonesia.
Refining Efficiency
We are making progress in response to the American
Petroleum Institute’s Climate Action Challenge, for which
we committed to improve the energy efficiency of our U.S.
refineries by 10 percent between 2002 and 2012, as measured
by the Solomon Energy Efficiency Index. This will require
some $300 million of investments in three project categories:
- Adopting energy management best practices.
- Small capital projects, such as replacing older pumps with
more efficient models.
- Large capital projects such as power generation and power
recovery.
In addition to improving energy efficiency, we will minimize
CO2 emissions associated with capacity expansion, additional
clean fuels processing and the challenge of refining the
heavier, more sulfurous crude feedstock that constitutes a
rising percentage of world crude oil supplies.
Substantial effort is focused on preserving and reusing heat
in our refineries. For example, we use exhaust gases from
furnaces to preheat the air entering the furnaces. We also
recover waste steam, using it for preheating. We are conducting
energy-efficiency reviews at each refinery and are developing
specific energy conservation plans for each.
In 2007, the Billings refinery in Montana became the first
U.S. refinery to receive the Environmental Protection Agency’s
Energy Star award for superior energy efficiency, based on the
Energy Intensity Index, as defined by Solomon Associates, an
industry consultant specializing in comparative performance
analysis, which placed the refinery in the top quartile of energy
efficiency for similarly sized facilities. Our Lake Charles
refinery also received the Energy Star award in mid-2007.
Transportation Efficiency
The control center in Ponca City, Oklahoma, uses a computerized system
to monitor more than 12,000 miles of pipe from one central location.
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Our Transportation business has been using sophisticated
drag-reduction agents and high-efficiency pumps to improve
liquid pipeline operations with the goal of achieving $2.5 million
in annual energy savings by 2008. Computer programs are
being employed to model individual pipeline segments to
determine the most energy-efficient way to move products
and crude oil. A study of one pipeline segment forecast –
the potential for $300,000 in annual savings. A total of 45
additional pipeline segments will be studied by the end of
2008 to identify additional savings opportunities.
ConocoPhillips Specialty Products Inc. is the market leader in
flow-improvement technologies to help transport crude oils
and refined products long distances by pipeline. Our Liquid-
Power™ Flow Improvers enhance pipeline efficiency by
reducing pipeline turbulence, increasing throughput and saving
energy at pump stations. ConocoPhillips Specialty Products
Inc. offers a range of flow improvers for crude oil, refined
products and non-potable water pipeline operations, including
specially formulated products for very cold climates. Drag
reduction improvements of more than 80 percent are achievable,
depending on the pipeline, crude oil or product type. In
addition to the energy-savings and throughput benefits, the use
of flow improvers can often avoid the capital cost of installing
a larger pipeline or more pumps.
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