LCA Report: Analyzing the Environmental Impact of Saudi Aramco

This report provides a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of Saudi Aramco, a major player in the oil and gas industry. It examines the environmental impacts of the company's products, including petroleum, natural gas, and various petrochemicals. The assessment covers the entire product life cycle, from raw material acquisition (oil sands, shale gas) through processing, manufacturing, product life, and waste management. The report highlights the stages of the LCA process, including extraction, refining, and distribution, and discusses the company's efforts to manage waste and explore alternative fuel technologies to mitigate environmental impacts. The analysis draws on various sources, including journal articles and online resources, to provide a comprehensive overview of Saudi Aramco's environmental performance and the application of LCA in the oil and gas sector. The report also references illustrations depicting the LCA process and framework relevant to Saudi Aramco.

LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
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ILLUSTRATION INDEX
Illustration 1: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).......................................................................................4
Illustration 2: Life Cycle Assessment framework for Saudi Aramco...................................................5
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Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a process of assembling and analyse the outputs and inputs
of energy and materials and determine their environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of a
product or service. In the present time, many of the companies are using life cycle assessment
method to better understand the benefits and costs of different actions. It helps in improving
management decision of the organization (Williams, 2009). LCA is a systematic approach of
understand the entire life cycle of a product which starts from raw material and end on disposal of
the object.
Saudi Aramco is a Saudi Arabian oil company and belongs to oil and gas industry. Major
products of the organization are petroleum, natural gas and many other petrochemicals. It serves
across the globe and count in most valuable company in world. Saudi Aramco has large quantity of
crude oil reserves and more than 260 billion barrels oil produce on daily basis (Company Overview
of Saudi Arabian Oil Company, 2016). At present time, company is looking towards LCA to
determine unconventional and alternative fuel technologies so that the negative impact of oil
production on environment can be reduced (Life Cycle Assessment of Unconventional and
Alternative Fuel Technologies, 2012). LCA process of Saudi Aramco to examine environmental
impacts of petroleum, natural gas and many other petrochemicals by considering the major stages of
a product life is as follows.
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Raw material acquisition: It includes harvesting or acquisition of raw materials and
transports it to the manufacturing or production area. For Saudi Aramco, the raw material to extract
the gases and oils are oil sands which is called unconventional liquid fuels, gas to liquid fuels and
shale gas (Campbell, Beer and Batten, 2011). The traditional methods of extracting the oil and
natural gases are considering as a baseline for the new fuel alternatives for comparison purpose. By
different drilling methods, production of oil and natural gases improves.
Processing: This stage defines the processing of the raw materials and transport to the
processing units. Here, by following the various processes, the raw good has converted into the
semi finished product. Saudi Aramco transfer the crude oil from the extraction place to the
processing unit where it has refined in different sections of units (Collet, Hélias and et.al., 2011).
Along with this, to remove the impurities and other objectives from raw oil, there are different
auxiliary facilities install in the plants.
Manufacturing: Here, product manufacture, assemble, pack and transport for the
distribution. Saudi Aramco refining the end product and categorize into different segments such as
petroleum, natural gas and other petrochemicals like automotive and rail-road diesel fuels,
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Illustration 1: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)
(Source: What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?, 2014)

residential heating fuel, Naphtha etc (Stephenson, Kazamia and et.al., 2010).
Product life: It includes energy and emissions of the product which require maintenance and
reuse. The shelf life of the petrochemical products is start from couple of days to couple of years.
Petrochemical products which has developed by Saudi Aramco are petroleum, natural gas and many
other petrochemicals (Burnham, Han and et.al., 2011). The shelf life of petroleum is couple of years
because it is more refines and less sticky as compare to diesel. So, company is using large chemical
stabilisers to preserve fuels for the long time.
Waste management: Here, the remaining raw material recycles to make it more useable. Saudi
Aramco has produced different useable products from the waste of refine crude oil. It is done for
managing the waste by recycling and effective use of limited resources (Bribián, Capilla and Usón,
2011). The products which are producing by company from the wastage of crude oil are Gasoline,
Motor Oil, Sulphur, Liquefied petroleum gas etc.
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Illustration 2: Life Cycle Assessment framework for Saudi
Aramco
(Source: What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?, 2014)

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bribián, I. Z., Capilla, A. V. and Usón, A. A., (2011). Life cycle assessment of building materials:
Comparative analysis of energy and environmental impacts and evaluation of the eco-
efficiency improvement potential. Building and Environment, 46(5), pp.1133-1140.
Burnham, A., Han, J. and et.al., (2011). Life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of shale gas, natural
gas, coal, and petroleum. Environmental science & technology, 46(2), pp.619-627.
Campbell, P. K., Beer, T. and Batten, D., (2011). Life cycle assessment of biodiesel production from
microalgae in ponds. Bioresource technology, 102(1), pp.50-56.
Collet, P., Hélias, A. and et.al., (2011). Life-cycle assessment of microalgae culture coupled to
biogas production.Bioresource technology, 102(1), pp.207-214.
Stephenson, A. L., Kazamia, E. and et.al., (2010). Life-cycle assessment of potential algal biodiesel
production in the United Kingdom: a comparison of raceways and air-lift tubular
bioreactors. Energy & Fuels, 24(7), pp.4062-4077.
Online
Company Overview of Saudi Arabian Oil Company. (2016). [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=1241120>.
[Accessed on 4th March 2016].
Life Cycle Assessment of Unconventional and Alternative Fuel Technologies. (2012). [Online].
Available through: <https://cpc.kaust.edu.sa/Pages/News-May-2012.aspx>. [Accessed on 4th
March 2016].
What is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)?. (2014). [Online]. Available through:
<http://eplca.jrc.ec.europa.eu/?page_id=43>. [Accessed on 4th March 2016].
Williams, A., (2009). Life Cycle Analysis: A Step by Step Approach. [PDF]. Available through:
<http://www.istc.illinois.edu/info/library_docs/tr/tr40.pdf>. [Accessed on 4th March 2016].
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