Wastes and Residual Materials
Marathon complies with all waste regulations throughout its worldwide
operations and conducts programs to reduce the volumes of hazardous and
non-hazardous materials it generates. Programs for waste minimization,
recycling, reuse and reclamation are developed by Marathon facilities
based on their specific needs. The Company is investigating systems to
consistently track, capture and collect consolidated data for solid and
hazardous waste management activities across the Company.
Emissions
Marathon generates air emissions during its drilling, production, refining,
terminal, transportation, storage and retail operations. As these operations
expand to meet growing demand for energy, emissions may also increase.
Marathon is committed to minimizing all types of air emissions and evaluates operations periodically to identify process improvements and technology solutions to minimize air emissions. Current reduction efforts include cost-effective energy efficiency measures; incident prevention and prudent operations to reduce natural gas flaring; and use of best practices and affordable technologies in operations.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Marathon reports 2003 through 2007 estimated GHG emissions from its operated
facilities using industry guidelines (API's Compendium of Greenhouse Gas
Emissions Methodologies for the Oil and Gas Industry and the Petroleum Industry
Guidelines for Reporting Greenhouse Gas Emissions from API, IPIECA and OGP).
Emissions are reported for Marathon-operated assets and are expressed in metric
tons (tonnes) of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), a combination of
carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O)
and, for Downstream only, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). Both
direct-source emissions (those generated onsite by Marathon) and indirect-source emissions (purchased electricity and/or imported steam generated offsite by others) are included.
Marathon's global 2007 GHG emissions for all business units were estimated to be 19.65 million tonnes. This is an increase of less than 0.3 percent from 2006 corporate-wide GHG estimated emissions of 19.60 million tonnes. The increase is due to higher indirect emissions (electricity consumption).
In 2007, estimated GHG emissions from Upstream operations were 5.16 million tonnes CO2e with a normalized rate of 28.4 tonnes per thousand barrels of oil equivalent (MBOE) production. These values compare to 5.15 million tonnes CO2e and 23 tonnes/MBOE in 2006. The increase in tonnes (less than 0.2 percent) is primarily the result of increased electricity consumption. The normalized rate was adversely affected by this emissions increase and lower production volumes. This does not include emissions from Upstream joint venture, non-operated assets.
While Marathon does not operate the Atlantic Methanol Production Company Limited LLC (AMPCO) and EG LNG assets in Equatorial Guinea, the Company does have influence over operations and HES policies. Accordingly, emissions from these assets are reported separately and are not reflected in Marathon's global emissions. GHG emissions in 2007 for these two assets totaled approximately 2.7 million tonnes CO2e with those attributable to Marathon's ownership equaling approximately 1.5 million tonnes CO2e.
Overall GHG emissions from Downstream operations in 2007 were 14.50 million tonnes CO2e with a normalized rate of 32.5 tonnes per thousand barrels (MBBL) of total refinery throughput. These compare to 14.45 million tonnes CO2e and 32.6 tonnes/MBBL, respectively, for 2006. Although overall emissions trend upwards less than 0.3 percent, the normalized rate for Downstream continues to decrease, reflecting increased operational and energy efficiencies.
