Abstract
In China there has been considerable discussion of how one should express the efficiency of energy conversion and production. Energy return on investment (EROI) can be useful for this because its methodology is based on outputs and inputs. Unfortunately, similar to the rest of the world, most of the data available for assessing energy gains and costs for oil and gas in China has to be derived from economic costs and revenues for oil fields. In this paper we derive a first EROI for China based on using this approach and the existing data for production of crude oil and natural gas for the Daqing oil field, the largest oil field in China. We estimate that its EROIstnd expressed as heat equivalent was 10:1 in 2001 but has declined to 6.5:1 in 2009. Based on this trend we project that the EROIstnd will decline to 4.7:1 in 2015, and the net energy from the field will be decreasing substantially. The calculations have some errors because of incomplete data, and if various externalities are taken into account, the EROI of this oil field would be lower than our present estimates. The trends of EROI and net energy suggest that the Daqing oil field will face more difficulty in the future which can not be overcome by government fiat.
Highlights
In traditional economic analyses there are two types of profits and returns from economic systems:“gross” and “net”
We estimate that the energy return on investment (EROIstnd) for the Daqing oil field decreased from about 10:1 in 2001 to 6.5:1 in 2009 (Table 5 and Figure 9)
The Energy return on investment (EROI) derived in four different ways show the same decreasing trends, and EROI derived using heat equivalents is higher than when corrected for quality using the Divisia index
Summary
In traditional economic analyses there are two types of profits and returns from economic systems:. These are used routinely in such assessments as the gross national product (GNP). The net national product (NNP), and in gross income and net profit in financial analyses. From enterprises to countries, must consider the total or gross output or sales and the net output (profit) for their decision making. The same concept is almost completely ignored by most researchers in the energy field. This has been true even though the concept has a long history in energy analysis.
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