Ishpingo Oil Field Blockade

Offset by: Waorani Kawymeno community

Carbon Offset: 0.9 Metric Tons

Vintage: 2023

Location: Orellana, Ecuador

In late December 2023, the Ishpingo oil field was shut down by the indigenous Waorani Kawymeno community. This action was taken in response to Petroecuador’s failure to fulfill the public works agreement tied to the drilling operations on their ancestral lands. The shutdown lasted for three days, during which time the community and the Ministry of Energy engaged in negotiations. An agreement was eventually reached, leading to the resumption of operations at the oil field.

$$ {\sum_{n=1}^{days}({Fuel_{tonnes\,per\,day} \times CO_{2\,tonnes\,per\,unit fuel}} \times n} ) $$

Methodology

Step 1: Calculate the quantity of CO2 emissions that were delayed on each day of the action.

The Ishpingo oil field was reported to have cut oil output by 17,000 barrels per day due to the protests 1 2. Since a single oil barrel is estimated to emit 0.43 metric tonnes of CO2 3, we multiply the oil output cut by this value:

$$ \begin{aligned} tCO_2 &= OilBarrels \times tCO_2/barrel \\[5pt] &= 17,000 \times 0.43 \\[5pt] &= 7,310 \end{aligned} $$

Step 2: Calculate the benefit of delaying (temporarily storing) these emissions for the period of the action.

The protests halted operations for three days until an agreement between the Waorani Kawymeno community and the ministry of energy was reached 1. Taking this into consideration, oil barrels collected on day 1 would have been stored for three days, barrels collected on day 2 would have been stored for two days, and so on. The sequence of days must be multiplied by the CO2 emissions that were delayed for each daily barrel of oil that was held up at the facility.

$$ \begin{aligned} tonne_{years}CO_2 &= {\sum_{n=1}^{days}{{tCO_2/day} \times n} \over 365} \\[5pt] &= {\sum_{n=1}^{3} {7,310 \times n}\over 365} \\[5pt] &= 120.2 \end{aligned} $$

Step 3: Calculate the offset.

We then use an equivalence factor of 128 which was calculated using the Lashof method with a discount rate of 0 and a time horizon of 100 years 4 5. This equivalence factor posits that the effects of the release of 1 tonne of CO2 emissions is offset by the storage of 128 tonnes of CO2 for 100 years.

$$ \begin{aligned} Offset &= {tonne_{years}CO_2 \over equivalence} \\[5pt] &= {120.2 \over 128} \\[5pt] &= 0.9 tCO_2 \end{aligned} $$

  1. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/ecuador-indigenous-group-reach-deal-end-oil-field-blockade-2023-12-31/ ↩↩

  2. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/petroecuador-declares-force-majeure-over-indigenous-protests-2023-12-29/ ↩

  3. https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gases-equivalencies-calculator-calculations-and-references ↩

  4. Chay et. al. calculate this equivalence factor using Lashof here: https://carbonplan.org/research/ton-year-explainer ↩

  5. Fearnside et. al. (2000) Accounting for time in mitigating global warming through land-use change and forestry. Mitigation and adaptation strategies for global change ↩

  6. https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/biz/archives/2023/07/02/2003802497 ↩