Life Cycle Assessment

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique that identifies and quantifies the resources used and the emissions into air, land, and water, enabling the assessment of the potential environmental impacts throughout a product’s life cycle from raw material acquisition through production, use, end-of-life treatment, recycling and final disposal, and has its principles and calculation procedure described in ISO 14040 and ISO 14044. The life cycle of fossil fuels involves the stages of oil exploration and production, transportation, processing in refineries, distribution, and use of products.

Intending to further assess the carbon intensity of our products, we carry out preliminary Life Cycle Assessment studies of the produced oils and refined products. These assessments are used internally to improve our processes and define our sustainability strategies and product portfolio, as a way to contribute to the energy transition and a low-carbon economy.

So far, we have already carried out the Life Cycle Assessment of part of our oil production basins and our refineries. We continue to work on the evolution of our models to develop more agile systems that enable us to assess a more significant number of oil production and refining units.

Digital LCA

We are developing a digital model to carry out LCAs in our refineries with agility and focus on calculating the carbon intensity of products. The pilot implementation is being carried out at the Henrique Lage Refinery (REVAP), expected to be completed in 2023. The Digital LCA model uses real-time information from refinery management systems, such as the digital twin of refinery processes (used to optimize production), the energy panel (energy performance data), information from SIGEA® (Sistema de Gestão de Emissões Atmosféricas da Petrobras - Petrobras Atmospheric Emissions Management System), the product movement database and other complementary systems. With this data set, it is possible to calculate, in a more flexible and traceable manner, the carbon intensity of the products from a refinery, contributing to the knowledge and management of emissions associated with production and also contributing to meet customer demands, develop products with lower carbon intensity and certify low carbon products. Preliminary results are already being assessed, making it possible to improve the model under development.