Models for Environmental and Business Management in the Oil and Gas Industry

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To meet the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the United Nations Frame Work conventions on climate change, there is need to develop new business and environmental management models to mitigate the impact of the emission of Carbon (IV) Oxide (CO 2 ) into the environment by the Oil and Gas industry taking into consideration the advantage provided by the digitalization of technology. This research presents new models for environmental management and Carbon taxation within the frame work of environmental sustainability. This study focused on the sources of the Hydrocarbon rather than the sink for its analysis and modelling. Every Oil and Gas producing country is viewed as an Isolated Thermodynamic system in space whose emission of CO 2 must be sustainable. An Isolated thermodynamic system is one in which no transfer of mass or energy occurs across its boundary. Hence, Oil and Gas producing countries that benefit from the revenues of Oil and gas production are held directly responsible for the unfavourable impact of CO 2 emission rather than the sink (consumers) in accordance with the “Polluter Pays Principle”. Viewing every country as an Isolated Thermodynamic system ensures that each country strives to live sustainably. The model for computing the CO 2 Ecological Footprint (EF) was developed with MATLAB 7.5.0 Software based on the total Oil and Gas production from the Oil and Gas producing country (Nigeria was used as a case study). Based on the Computed CO 2 EF, model for the size of the forest required for sequestering all the emitted CO 2 was developed for environmental sustainability. Two of the available technologies for CO 2 sequestration (Ocean Fertilization and Ocean Injection of CO 2 ) were used to develop environmental cost models as a basis for taxation. The result of the research shows that by viewing each Oil and Gas producing country as an Isolated Thermodynamic System that will be held accountable for CO 2 emission, the attainment of the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the UN conventions on Climate change are easily achieved. Empirical analyses of data obtained with regard to CO 2 released during Oil and Gas production in Nigeria suggests that the CO 2 release by the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry is unsustainable. Digitalization technologies will rely on the new models developed in this research to develop new business tools for national and inter-country trading of CO 2 emissions and management of Forests for CO 2 sequestration.