THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF NATURAL GAS AND ITS ROLE IN THE CARBON FOOTPRINT OF ENERGY PRODUCTION

Abstract

The study of the carbon footprint of natural gas in order to assess its impact on global climatic
processes has shown that the carbon footprint of natural gas at the stages of production, transportation,
storage, and distribution amounts to not more than 17 kg CO2-eq./GJ (16.5 – in 2012; 15 – in 2013; and 12.2
– in 2014) and is reduced yearly by 1 CO2-eq./GJ. The comparative study has revealed that its value is less
than that of gasoline, kerosene, and diesel fuel. When delivering to Europe through various corridors, carbon
footprint varies from 18 kg CO2-eq./GJ for the Ukrainian Corridor to 9 kg CO2-eq./GJ for the "Nord Stream".
The proportion of the methane (CH4) carbon footprint prior to use in a particular power generating process is
30 g CO2-eq./kWh of a generation that amounts to 4.5-7.5% of the total carbon footprint at natural gas-fired
power generation (398-662 g CO2-eq./kWh), and to 2.8% of the carbon footprint at coal-fired generation.
This indicates the high efficiency of gas fuel in terms of its positive impact on reducing the global climate
change.