Global Gas and Oil Extraction Tracker Methodology

This article is part of the Global Oil and Gas Extraction Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project.

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Related categories:

Oil and gas extraction Oil and gas pipelines LNG terminals

Architecture

The Global Gas and Oil Extraction Tracker (GOGET) uses a two-level system for organizing information, consisting of both a database and wiki pages with further information. The database tracks individual oil and gas units and includes operator and ownership structure, unit status, fuel type, production levels, reserves, and location. A wiki page created for each oil and gas unit in GEM.wiki contains further detail as well as references for the data.

Inclusion Criteria

GOGET includes units with:

• production of 1 million boe/yr or more
• and/or reserves of 25 million boe or more
• and/or assets that were previously included in iterations of GOGET

GOGET is based on public sources, data is only included if it is publicly accessible.

Definitions

Unit

GOGET relies on the government or company providing information to define the unit being described. In most cases, this unit is defined as a “field.” However, there are other possibilities. Data is sometimes reported at the well, asset, complex, block, or basin level. The “well” designation is generally applied when the unit is so newly discovered that information is only available at the “well” level, as no field has yet been identified. The “asset” designation indicates the portion of a field operated by a particular company. "Asset" is commonly used for unconventional production where unique field name and operator combinations were deemed an "Asset" and entered into GOGET.

Reserves

There are many definitions of reserves (meaning, how much oil and gas is remaining in a field to extract). Proved reserves (aka 1P) are the most commonly reported category, particularly for financial evaluations of companies. But for understanding the long-term potential for oil/gas extraction, broader categories are more useful, in particular 2P (proved and probable) reserves. However, companies and countries define and report reserves differently. GOGET provides the reserves data and classifications as reported by the original sources.

Onshore/Offshore

In the Feb 2025 update to GOGET, GEM added an onshore/offshore tag. Previously this was tracked internally, but it is now included in the public release. If a unit is explicitly stated to be located offshore it is cited as such. Alternatively, if the coordinates of a unit are known, GEM runs a geospatial analysis to indicate if a location is located in oceans or not. Locations in oceans are marked as offshore, on land as onshore.

Conventional/Unconventional

In the Feb 2025 update to GOGET, GEM added an conventional/unconventional tag. Previously this was tracked internally, but it is now included in the public release. GOGET's definition of unconventional is closely aligned with Schlumberger's Energy Glossary and International Energy Agency definitions. If a source explicitly states that production is via a method listed in those definitions, it is tagged as unconventional. If it states the production method is not one of the methods listed, it is tagged as conventional. If a country or area is known to not produce unconventional oil or gas, and no data indicated that the specific project breaks with that trend, it is tagged as conventional. When this is assumed, it is marked on the GEM.wiki page for the project.

Status Categories

• Exploration: An unproven concessionary block or region that potentially contains an undiscovered field is actively being explored for reserves.
• Discovered: A field is typically considered to be discovered when there has been a well drilled into a particular formation, and it yielded some significant quantity of oil and/or gas. Discovered fields are not necessarily economic to exploit.
• In Development: Following discovery, the process of moving toward commercial production has begun. This means that a company is planning to develop the project, as evidenced by one or more of the following criteria being reached: the company has applied for approval for commercial production (if needed in the jurisdiction), the project has reached the Final Investment Decision (FID), a final environmental impact statement has been published, and/or the drilling of development (not appraisal) wells and/or adding takeaway capacity (infrastructure such as pipelines, storage tanks, etc.) to enable commercial production has begun.
• Cancelled: A discovered or in-development field that did not reach commercial production. This is evidenced by a formal acknowledgment by a company involved that a project is not going forward.
• Operating: The field has commercial production of oil/gas (that is, quantities that are being sold to market).
• Shut in: Operations temporarily shut down; may be restarted.
• Abandoned: Operations have ceased, but the wells/fields were not decommissioned following all the usual steps, such as plugging the wells (including filling the well with cement).
• Decommissioned: Operations permanently ceased; infrastructure is typically removed
• UGS: Exhausted fields may be converted from producing to serving as underground gas storage (UGS) facilities; these are labeled as “UGS” or “UGS (converted).”
• UCS (Proposed): A site, be it a depleted oil and gas field, porous rock formations, or other location, deemed suitable for underground carbon storage (UCS) where a company has proposed and taken some concrete steps toward pumping carbon dioxide for long term storage.
• UCS: A site, be it a depleted oil and gas field, porous rock formations, or other location, deemed suitable for underground carbon storage (UCS) where a company has stored significant quantities of CO2.

Research Process

Oil and gas unit data is collected from and validated through five main sources:

• Government data on individual units, country energy and resource plans, and government websites tracking extraction permits and applications.
• Reports by state-owned and private companies;
• News and media reports;
• Local non-governmental organizations tracking extraction permits and operations;
• On-the-ground contacts who can provide first-hand information about a project.

A partial list of data sources can be found here.

Wiki Pages

For each oil and gas unit, a wiki page is created on Global Energy Monitor’s GEM.wiki. Wiki pages provide a repository for in-depth information including project background, financing, environmental impacts, fuel types, public opposition, coordinates, and maps. Under standard wiki convention, all information is linked to a published reference, such as a news article, company or government report, or a regulatory permit. In order to ensure data integrity in the open-access wiki environment, Global Energy Monitor researchers review all edits of project wiki pages.

A listing of wiki pages within the oil and gas extraction category can be found here.

Conversions

Conversion of oil and gas production and reserves values for comparisons internally and for reports utilize bp Statistical Review of World Energy "Approximate conversion factors", Canada's "Conversion factors and common units to be used for North American Cooperation on Energy Information", and other online convertors.

Type of conversion	Conversions	Values	Source
volume	Ft3 per m3	35.315
gas	m3 per boe	169.98
gas	PJ per million m3	28
gas	standard per normal	1.055
gas	Groningen per m3	1.13
oil	bbl per ton	7.33
volume	bbl per m3	6.2898
volume	bbl per ft3	0.1781056208	^
volume	bbl per kL	6.2898
LPG	bbl per ton	11.6
gas	m3 gas per ton	1360

Production and reserves in official data releases are given in the original units and a standard converted unit.

"Hydrocarbons" refer to any mix of oil and gas, both inferred and stated

Fuel	Value Type	Standard Unit
Oil	Production	million bbl/y
Oil	Reserves	million bbl
Gas	Production	million m³/y
Gas	Reserves	million m³
hydrocarbons	Production	million boe/y
hydrocarbons	Reserves	million boe

Mapping

To allow easy public access to the results, Global Energy Monitor worked with GreenInfo Network to develop a map-based and table-based interface using the Leaflet, an open-source JavaScript library. In the case of exact coordinates, coordinates have been obtained from an authoritative source such as a government data set. For proposed projects, exact locations, if available, are from permit applications or other company or government documentation. If the location of a unit is not known, GEM identifies the most approximate location.

Global Gas and Oil Extraction Tracker Release Notes

February 2023

• Partial update of data for the following countries:
  • United Kingdom
  • Nigeria
  • Algeria
  • Libya
  • Egypt
  • Mozambique
  • Angola
• Added/updated data on fields in other countries in Africa relevant to research for the New Hubs of Gas Extraction in Africa report.
• Added/updated data on fields in other countries in Europe relevant to research for the Hooked on Hydrocarbons report.
• Global Energy Monitor has transitioned to using the United Nations’ region and subregion definitions.
• Global Energy Monitor has adopted the name "Türkiye" as a replacement for "Turkey."

July 2023

Partial update of data and review of oil and gas upstream activities for the following countries relevant the "Newly Sanctioned Gas Reserves in Southeast Asia Risk 1.5°C Target" briefing:

• Brunei
• Cambodia
• Indonesia
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• Philippines
• Singapore
• Thailand
• Timor-Leste
• Vietnam

March 2024

First global update of GOGET:

• Expanded coverage adding 21 countries.
• Research done in Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and Spanish.
• Drilling Deeper 2024 released in connection with this update.
• Added FID Year
• Added internal tracking of supply segment

February 2025

Second global update of GOGET:

• Expanded coverage, adding one country/area (Uzebekistan), and 2 shared areas (Angola and the Republic of the Congo; Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago)
• Changed inclusion threshold to be globally reserves greater than 25 million boe, production greater than 1 million boe/y OR previously included in GOGET
• Restructured US data progressing from county_operator to field_operator
  • This change resulted in many US units being redefined, and as a result, many gem.wiki redirects.
• Added "Onshore/Offshore" and "Production Type" to data download (previously internally tracked, see definitions section)
• "Country" column renamed to "Country/Area"
• 'Oil and gas extraction’s move offshore: Trends and risks' released in connection with this update.