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Review

A Review on Achieving Sustainability in the Petroleum Industry Through the Integration of Lean and Green

by
Felister Dibia
1,
Chinedu Dibia
2,
Hom Nath Dhakal
1,
Oghenovo Okpako
1,
Jovana Radulovic
1,* and
Augustine Isike
3
1
School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth PO1 3DJ, UK
2
School of Leadership, Management and Marketing, De Montfort University, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK
3
Department of Logistics and Transportation Technology, Federal University of Technology Minna, Minna PMB 65, Nigeria
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(5), 2333; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15052333
Submission received: 18 December 2024 / Revised: 13 February 2025 / Accepted: 19 February 2025 / Published: 21 February 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Review Papers in the Section ‘Green Sustainable Science and Technology’)
Browse Figures
Versions Notes

Abstract

:
The petroleum industry has been a key driver in the development of the world economy yet continues to attract increasing criticism due to its negative environmental impact via greenhouse gas emissions, resource inefficiency, and waste. Integrating lean and green practices is fast becoming a transformative approach to tackling these issues as it integrates process optimization with sustainability principles. This review paper examined the existing literature on lean and green integration, highlighting its benefits, models, critical success factors, and a roadmap for its implementation. Also, it identified sustainability challenges and offered strategic solutions. The findings showed that integrating lean and green offers potential for both process optimization and waste and carbon footprint reduction, particularly for the petroleum industry in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This can be achieved by using appropriate tools and models. Sustainable value stream mapping (Sus-VSM) is a strategic tool that highlights the importance of sustainability metrics. These sustainability metrics address the implementation challenges of the convectional value stream mapping tool (VSM). This paper is one of the few initiatives to promote lean–green integration within the petroleum industry.

1. Introduction

Sustainability has been a critical challenge in the petroleum industry. This industry has negatively affected the environment, serving as a major polluter contributing to climate change as stated by the authors of [1,2]. Recent studies show that 144 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas was flared by the petroleum industry across the globe in 2022, releasing 400 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), of which 361 million tons of CO2e was in the form of methane. If put to productive purposes, the amount of gas flared in 2022 could generate as much electricity as SSA currently produces in a year [3]. However, the input of the petroleum industry in socioeconomic development cannot be ignored as it is one of the largest industries in the world, contributing billions of dollars annually to oil-producing countries’ gross domestic product (GDP) [4]. Environmental challenges and regulatory pressures have made the players in the petroleum industry look beyond profit-making to seek more sustainable management practices. One such management practice is lean and green management [5,6]. Lean enhances quality and productivity by eliminating non-value-added activities, while green reduces environmental impacts, leading to sustainable outcomes and increased profits and market share [7,8]. Garza-Reyes et al. [6], Teixeira et al. [9], and Bhattacharya et al. [10] were able to prove that lean and green integration improves the environment and optimizes operations, proving that both concepts align with sustainability.
Achieving sustainability in the petroleum industry is essential. Consequently, identifying and integrating lean and green frameworks that work in the petroleum industry is a research need. The management approach in the petroleum industry has recently been driven by lean, which has been utilized to remove waste in its processes while integrating Six Sigma to maintain and improve process quality [11,12,13]. Six Sigma is a structured framework that reduces the probability of process, product, and service failure, ensuring improvements [14,15]. Introducing and inputting green management with lean would ensure that the process waste being mitigated would include excessive resource usage, excessive water usage, excessive power usage, poor health and safety, greenhouse gases, eutrophication, and pollution, as asserted by the authors of [16]. The process of waste mitigation was a significant challenge for the petroleum industry in SSA. Also, other challenges like environmental degradation and political instability beset this region, further impacting sustainability.
SSA countries like Nigeria, Angola, and Ghana are rich in crude oil deposits, with many still unexplored; discoveries and investments frequently occur, for example, in the recent Bonga North deep-water project carried out by Shell in Nigeria [17,18]. The SSA petroleum industry is crucial in the global energy landscape, economic development, regional stability, and sustainability. Presenting these opportunities and earlier stated challenges requires careful management and strategic planning. Although lean manufacturing has been extensively used in the petroleum industry for its process improvement, as noted by the authors of [19,20,21], there is limited research on integrating lean and green concepts in the SSA petroleum industry, thus leading to a knowledge gap. This review aims to analyze the integration of lean and green practices in the petroleum industry, highlighting the tool, green initiatives, and critical success factors for its integration. It also suggests strategic solutions to the sustainability challenges.
Consequently, the sustainability goal was achieved by answering research questions such as the following: What are the lean and green tools/techniques suitable for incorporating sustainability, and what are the practical strategic solutions for sustainability challenges in the SSA petroleum industry?
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 provides an overview of lean and green. Section 3 clarifies the research methodology used in this work. A descriptive analysis of the journals is presented in Section 4. Discussions of key findings are presented in Section 5. Conclusions, limitations, and prospects are given in Section 6.

2. Lean and Green Overview

Lean and green integration has been of growing interest within various industries, as it offers a pathway to sustainable business practices because it has emerged as a transformative approach to enhancing operational efficiency while simultaneously addressing environmental concerns. The lean concept started from the Toyota production system in the 1940s and emphasizes removing waste (muda), increasing productivity, and raising quality. According to the authors of [5,22], lean uses tools like 5S, total preventive maintenance, total quality management, Just-in-Time, production smoothing, and set-up reduction to eliminate waste. These wastes could be defects, overproduction, over-processing, inventory, transport, and waiting [23,24]. Case studies such as [25] deployed a Spaghetti chart to trace the process flow; ref. [26] used BIM in the construction process; ref. [27] exploited value stream mapping; ref. [28] explored 5S, Visual Management, SMED, and Standard Work; and ref. [29] used Kaizen to demonstrate the waste reduction, production process efficiency, and other benefits lean implementation impacts on organizations. Comparatively, green, on the other hand, focuses on environmental sustainability by reducing emissions and resource consumption and promoting eco-friendly practices using principles such as the circular economy model [30,31], life cycle assessments [32], sustainable supply chain management [33], and sustainable value stream mapping [34]. By going green with their manufacturing, companies will improve their competitive edge indirectly while directly supporting environmental management and corporate social responsibility [10].
Moreover, the recent policies on climate change have compelled industries to adopt sustainable practices and transition into cleaner production [35,36]. The lean concepts, which improve operational efficiency, and green concepts, which reduce environmental waste, offer a viable solution. Both concepts focus on waste reduction and the efficient use of resources. Scholars have posited that integrating these concepts will promote economic, social, and environmental performances [10,37]. Research has also demonstrated that both paradigms can be combined [5,38].

2.1. Industries Application of Lean and Green

2.1.1. Automotive Industry

Ref. [39] conducted a case study in the automotive industry to examine the proposed conceptual framework for assessing green and lean supply chains; the findings revealed high scores in these companies, which are attributed to the effective combination of green and lean implementation. This highlights the importance of applying lean and green in the automotive industry. Furthermore, ref. [40] explored the significance of lean–green practices in supply chain management for sustainable performance in the automotive industry; the outcome provided a theoretical and empirical roadmap for decision-makers seeking to enhance sustainable performance in the automotive industry. Also, ref. [41] studied four original equipment manufacturers and two first-tier suppliers in the automotive industry, examining their operations strategies, lean practices, and green practices. The result showed that companies that introduced lean and green practices changed decision areas and competitive operations priorities while adopting various operations strategies to improve their sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, major car manufacturers worldwide are implementing environmental practices, such as green building certification, decoupling, and recycling designs for manufacturing and non-manufacturing facilities [42]. For example, the Toyota Group currently enhances its eco-design by developing new technologies to decrease engine emissions and create clean-energy vehicles [43]. The company also implements green initiatives to reduce environmental impact, including renewable energy source purchases, employee training, and recycling programs [42]. Moreover, it is important to state that the authors of [39,40,41,42] highlighted tools and practices such as JIT; set-up time reduction (STR); smaller lot sizes (SLZ); green purchasing (GP); environmental management systems (EMSs); reverse logistics (RLs); reduce, reuse, and recycle (3R), environmental value stream mapping (EVSM), and green value stream mapping (GVSM) among others used in lean–green integration.
In SSA, the prevalence of local production and assembly plants for these major automotive manufacturers has ensured that the impacts of lean and green implementation in their processes are visible through affordable product prices and upskilling local employees [44,45].

2.1.2. The Petroleum Industry

Lean and green manufacturing has emerged as a good approach. The relationship between the two paradigms has been investigated in various literature, such as [33,46]. These studies highlight the reduced waste achieved through the complementary roles of both paradigms. Studies have demonstrated that certain petroleum companies in developed countries have implemented lean and green practices in their operations, leading to an increase in operational efficiency and reduced environmental footprint.
Table 1 demonstrates how the petroleum business has significantly increased sustainability by successfully integrating lean and green principles.
The petroleum industry is gradually reducing its carbon footprint through technological advancement, integrating renewable energy, and enhancing the overall value chain energy efficiency as lean and green is implemented. Moreover, it is essential to highlight that the traditional approach to petroleum refining, among other petroleum production processes, has evolved with the improvements that new technologies have provided [59]. These evolved petroleum refining approaches include molecular, catalysis, and digitalization [60,61,62]. Besides these, new technologies can improve the refining efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of desired products [61,62]. Moreover, the evolved petroleum refining approaches could present implementation challenges in SSA, such as significant investment costs, adapting to existing refineries, and required expertise. Despite the previously stated potential, the challenges highlighted present an obstacle to using SSA petroleum [59,63]. Furthermore, utilizing the petroleum industry supply chain illustrated in Table 2 and Figure 1, the value chain with possible green initiatives in the petroleum production process is demonstrated. It can be observed that there were about five enumerated means of green initiatives within the processes in the supply chain in Figure 1.

2.2. Benefits of Integrating Lean and Green

Combining the lean and green concepts is crucial and profitable both in the short and long term. Since the petroleum industry is already lean aware, it can easily integrate the principle of green into its operations, taking into account the ISO 14001 standard [68]. It is easy for organizations that have adopted lean principles to integrate green [67]. According to the authors of [20], the lean concept has been used to advance operational and technical aspects, contractor/supplier relationships, team organization, and project management practices in the petroleum industry. IKEA, a furniture and home accessories brand, focuses on sustainability through its “People & Planet Positive” green strategy [69]. The company sources materials from sustainable providers, uses solar panels and wind farms, and aims to be 100% renewable. Unilever’s sustainable living plan aims to double its bottom line and reduce environmental impact by 50% in 10 years. In just 5 years, the company has reduced non-hazardous waste by 75% [70]. Other benefits are shown in Table 3.

2.3. Sustainability Challenges in the SSA Petroleum Industry and Practical Strategic Solutions

Despite being pivotal to the region’s economic growth, the petroleum industry still faces some challenges. International efforts to tackle these challenges and promote sustainability have become increasingly urgent in recent years. The 27th COP27b conference, held under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, emphasized the need for transformative actions to achieve Paris Agreement targets and the importance of green GDP as a key indicator of sustainable economic growth, as stated by the authors of [77]. It also underscores the need for low-carbon, resource-efficient economies [77]. While lean and green are beneficial in achieving sustainability, sustainability can be impacted by certain challenges. Some of these real-world challenges, particularly in the SSA petroleum industry, and practical strategies that can be used to address them include the following:
  • Project delays in the SSA petroleum industry are often because of infrastructure and technological barriers, as the countries still depend on foreign technologies and expertise [78]. Addressing these issues includes the following:
    • Establishing Petroleum technology institutes for the development of Indigenous oil and gas innovations, like Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Petroleum Studies & Research Center (KAPSARC) [79].
    • The use of blockchain in tracking transaction oil transparency is used in the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) to reduce fraud [80].
    • Adopting Al, digital twin technologies, like the British petroleum “Field of the Future” project that utilizes digital twin simulations for optimizing oilfields [81].
    • Implementation of advanced technologies. Chevron implemented 3D seismic imaging technology, and ExxonMobil implemented data analytic technology, which has led to improved efficiency and significant cost savings [48].
  • Political instability is characterized by corruption, militancy, inconsistency in policy, and civil unrest, which has affected the social and economic growth of the region [82]. Addressing these challenges includes the following:
    • Collaboration between countries. Mozambique’s government and Rwandan forces collaborated to combat insurgents targeting LNG projects in Cabo Delgado, highlighting the importance of increased security collaborations [83].
    • Establishing sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) to manage oil revenues and invest in long-term infrastructure projects, such as Norway’s SWF, which has brought economic stability for future generations and prevented corruption [84].
    • Using digital technology to strengthen security. Saudi Aramco’s pipeline security system employs AI-powered monitoring to prevent sabotage [84].
  • The monetization of flare gases to reduce flaring. The Nigerian Government is tackling the issue of flare gas through the Nigeria gas flare commercialization program launched (NGFCP) in 2016, ensuring the monetization of flare gas by selling it to investors [85].
  • Regulatory approvals from different government agencies can delay project delivery. This challenge can be overcome by creating a one-stop regulatory agency. For example, Angola has created a one-stop shop for local content compliance for the petroleum industry. Equatorial Guinea has created a one-stop shop that allows investors to set up business within one week [86,87].

2.4. Lean–Green Models for the SSA Petroleum Industry

Lean–green integration in the SSA petroleum industry offers a strategic pathway to achieving sustainability while improving operational efficiency. However, implementing these practices must be adapted to the unique realities of the region, such as limited infrastructure, regulatory challenges, skill shortages, and political instability. Researchers have developed several models for organizations looking to implement lean and green for sustainable practices in their operations. These models were validated using real-world case studies by the researchers. With the right tools, these models can be applied in SSA using lean and green tools to enhance business operations and reduce environmental impact. One of the tools suggested in this study is sustainable value stream mapping (SUS-VSM). This tool considers the environmental, social, and economic metrics of sustainability within the traditional value stream mapping. Table 4 highlights some lean–green implementation models that could be deployed in the SSA petroleum industry and their benefits.

2.5. Sustainable Value Stream Mapping (Sus-VSM)

This tool is an extension of the traditional value stream mapping (VSM) tool, which integrates sustainability metrics (social and environmental) with lean principles [34]. It identifies and eliminates waste while assessing the sustainability impacts (e.g., energy usage, emissions, and resource consumption) throughout the production process [91]. By visualizing the flow of materials, energy, and information, Sus-VSM helps organizations integrate lean and green initiatives, creating more sustainable processes. This is unlike the traditional VSM, which mainly identifies non-value-added activities and value-added activities from an end-to-end production process. Adopting Sus-VSM is, therefore, a valuable approach for the petroleum industry in the SSA regions seeking to improve their productivity and sustainability. This will assist the industry in identifying and optimizing value streams while incorporating sustainable practices and using smart technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence to improve sustainability and operational performance [92]. Although Sus-VSM is beneficial, analyzing and mapping the overall sustainability performance requires substantial resources. This implies that Sus-VSM is more applicable to companies with significant sustainability performance analysis resources [93]. Many car manufacturers like Volkswagen, Ford, and Volvo are gradually transitioning into sustainable production by investing in electric vehicle technology with its ID series. They aim to produce more electric vehicles on a large scale, thereby reducing carbon emissions from transportation [94]. A case study was conducted in a furniture company [95] to validate the use of sustainable VSM. Ref. [96] modeled CO2 emissions from a farm gate to a retail outlet for the UK Department for Transport using Sus-VSM. Ref. [92] developed a conceptual framework for SMEs to enhance performance through Sus-VSM practices, while [9] developed a lean–green and sustainability conceptual framework that could have multisectoral use.

3. Research Methodology

This study reviewed the existing literature on integrating lean and green principles in the oil and gas industry, specifically emphasizing achieving sustainability. While substantial research has been conducted on applying Lean Six Sigma to enhance operational efficiency within the petroleum sector, there is a notable gap in studies examining the environmental benefits of these practices in the context of sustainability. Consequently, the role of lean and green principles in promoting environmental sustainability whilst improving operational efficiency within the petroleum industry remains underexplored. An extensive literature review is essential to illuminate the potential of lean–green integration in addressing these environmental challenges. Ref. [97] highlighted that a thorough literature review is crucial for synthesizing current research findings with recent evidence, identifying gaps in knowledge, and guiding future investigations. The methodology used in this review involved the following steps:
Research questions: This review was guided by two research questions:
RQ1:
What are the lean and green tools/techniques suitable to incorporate sustainability?
RQ2:
What are the practical strategic solutions to the sustainability challenges In the SSA Petroleum Industry?
Time frame: The time frame chosen for this research was 1990 to 2024. The year 1990 was chosen as the starting year since the concept of lean manufacturing was further developed in that year, as can be evidenced in “The Machine that Changed the World” [98]. Although the sudden interest in lean and green themes started in 2005 [10,99], this study returned to 1990 because of the lean concept.
Search Engine: Electronic databases were provided by key publishers like Emerald, MDPI, Science Direct (Elsevier), Taylor and Francis, IEEE, Google Scholar, Springer, and key papers from International conferences. Onepetro was used to obtain relevant journals.
Search String: Keywords and their combinations were used as the search strategy. These keywords included lean, green, and sustainability, while combinations were performed using the Boolean operators (AND and OR). These included lean and green, lean–green and sustainability, and lean and green in the petroleum industry. The search result was restricted to the English language.
Analysis and Synthesis: Several methods can be used in synthesizing qualitative research. This study used the descriptive analysis method to provide a comprehensive overview of existing research on lean and green integration in the petroleum industry. The descriptive method was chosen because it provides a detailed description and understanding of data and answers questions of what, how, where, and why. Microsoft Excel was used to process the data obtained, and 116 articles that matched the study criteria were selected. In addition, Table 5 highlights the methods utilized as revised from the works [10,42].

4. Descriptive Analysis

A total of 106 publications from 1990 to 2024, matching our selection criteria, were reviewed, as illustrated in Figure 2. Scholars and practitioners have demonstrated increased interest in lean and green since 2010. Moreover, Figure 3 highlights the distribution of journal articles based on the keywords utilized, such as lean, green, lean and green, lean, green, and sustainability, amongst others. Subsequently, it was observed that lean and green have the most published journal articles in the research.
In terms of publications with highly rated journals, the Journal of Cleaner Production made a significant contribution to the field of lean and green practices. This journal has led the way in publishing articles on lean–green topics for many years. In close succession are the Sustainability journal, Onepetro—a library for technical literature for the petroleum industry (proceeding/conference), production planning and control, and the International Journal on Lean Six Sigma, with other journals having a significant number of lean and green publications.
From the search, the first published article on lean in the petroleum industry was reported in 1994. The search period for this study ranged from 1990 to 2024; few journals were published on lean and green separately between 1990 and 2000. However, during this period, the word lean gained momentum in the automotive industry. The sudden interest among scholars in the field of petroleum started in 2005, as demonstrated in Figure 2. Figure 3 shows the article keyword categorization for this research.

5. Key Findings and Critical Discussion

The key finding from this review shows that lean and green complement each other rather than contradict, as both strategies aim to improve resource utilization, reduce process inefficiencies, and reduce emissions. However, recent frameworks such as those in [16,76,88] have made headway in such improvements to effectively incorporate both strategies. Despite these synergies, implementation problems remain even in the SSA petroleum industry, which has, in the past, focused on maximizing profit rather than sustainability. In developed economies, lean and green manufacturing practices lower energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions, save 5–30% on costs, and have less environmental impact [42]. From the review, the SSA petroleum industry has not fully integrated the lean and green approach, which may have contributed to the environmental challenges that the region still faces. Countries with higher emission rates of flaring, like Nigeria and Algeria, have mainly been affected by social, technological, and political issues that can be addressed with a structured approach, which the lean and green integration strategy offers. The SSA petroleum industry can collaborate with suppliers and research institutions to manufacture and commercialize products by employing cutting-edge technologies for improving product quality and supply chain optimization, including operational and energy management [42]. However, implementing this integration requires a significant shift in mindset and behavior within the organization, investment in advanced technology, employee training, also the development and implementation of effective metrics to track sustainability performance. As suggested in this review, the sustainable value stream mapping (Sus-VSM) tool is crucial for the industry as it considers sustainability metric mapping, and the suggested strategic solutions offer pathways to overcome the sustainability challenges in the SSA petroleum industry. These answered the research questions of what the lean and green tools/techniques are and what the strategic solutions to the sustainability challenges in the SSA petroleum industry are.

5.1. Identified Critical Success Factors for the Lean–Green Integration

The relevance of critical success factors (CSFs) cannot be overemphasized, as the SSA petroleum industry must identify and understand these CSFs to consider while implementing the paradigm in achieving sustainability. The lean–green integration in the SSA petroleum industry is crucial and involves a comprehensive and strategic approach. However, scholars have pointed out that many organizations have found its implementation challenging [94]. Inadequate infrastructure, regulatory complexity, and workforce skill gaps pose regional challenges that must be addressed. To address these challenges, the CSFs identified include management/stakeholder commitment; employee involvement; compliance with regulations; methods and tools; and technology and innovation, shown on Figure 4.

5.1.1. Management/Stakeholders Commitment

Lean and green implementation will be successful in the workplace if the senior organizational leaders support, believe, share, and engage with the vision, as stated by the authors of [39]. For positive change to occur in an organization, management must be involved and committed to supporting that change. Consequently, achieving sustainability must be top management’s top priority as it spreads to other staff members. Also, Refs. [7,100] argued that a lack of commitment and involvement from management can cause such implementation projects to fail.

5.1.2. Employee Involvement

Making employees aware of their responsibilities in the lean–green approach is vital for problem-solving. For the successful implementation of lean–green within an organization, employee involvement is crucial. This is further supported by the authors of [101], who described employees as a significant piece of the lean–green supply chain. Given their centrality to all value streams, processes, and systems, ref. [102] affirmed that employees are an organization’s most valuable asset.

5.1.3. Compliance with Regulations

The organization’s policies and regulations need to be followed for the smooth running of day-to-day activities. Moreover, the complex nature of the petroleum industry emphasizes that compliance with regulations should be encouraged, as suggested by [103]. Furthermore, ref. [104] asserted that one of the major obstacles to achieving sustainability, which lean–green implementation seeks to address, is the lack of regulatory support and compliance with rules.

5.1.4. Methods and Tools

Ref. [105] asserted that deploying tools, such as Sus-VSM and visual systems, among others, for process observation in lean–green implementation helps monitor and gauge the desired sustainability transformation. Moreover, ref. [106] argued that developing sustainability metrics within the petroleum business process is essential. SUS-VSM provides these sustainability metrics as an implementation tool, as suggested by the authors of [34,91]. Ref. [106] further claimed that these sustainability metrics are process performance indicators that would help monitor and gauge the desired sustainability transformation of any petroleum business process.

5.1.5. Technology and Innovation

The pursuit of achieving sustainability in organizations depends on the integration of innovation and technology. Technology and innovation play a vital role in the lean and green framework, as it optimizes the production process and reduces environmental waste in the petroleum industry. The innovative approach to project management that the Last Planner System (LPS) brings to projects, as suggested by the authors of [20], could be utilized as a critical lean project management tool for planning to facilitate an effective lean–green implementation.

5.2. Roadmap for the Implementation of Lean and Green

Roadmaps guide what the present and future should look like [39]. They outline the company’s current state (what it is) and its future state (what it should be) after implementing lean–green initiatives. The roadmap for this study was obtained based on evidence-based studies such as the work of the authors of [39,107]. This roadmap (shown in Figure 5) aims to guide the effective implementation of lean and green models in improving environmental, social, and economic performance. It is divided into four phases.
Phase 1: Assessment and Planning: This phase is designed to assess the current state of the organization’s operations and plan for the transition to a sustainable future state. Assessments aid in identifying areas for operational and environmental enhancement and understanding potential challenges in implementing lean and green practices [71]. This phase provides strategic direction for implementing lean–green practices effectively. A company must demonstrate its lean–green strategic direction and improvement needs, contextualizing its fit into the operating environment, stakeholders, and benefits of lean adoption [108]. Assessment in this phase involves collecting field data through interviews of stakeholders and staff to understand their perception of sustainability and compliance with regulations and utilizing tools like sustainability value stream mapping (Sus-VSM) to assess sustainability metrics. After completing the assessment stage, a detailed plan for lean–green integration is developed; this involves outlining goals, strategies, KPI development, resource allocation, training, and capacity building.
Phase 2: Capacity building and Employee training: This phase forms the competent, motivated team necessary for implementing and sustaining lean–green. Focusing on training, cultural alignment, and technological readiness, capacity building provides solutions to tackle implementation barriers like skills gaps, resistance to change, and technological deficiencies. Successful lean–green implementation in an organization requires trained staff. As evidenced by various examples from the SSA petroleum sector, capacity building is an enabler and a critical success factor in integrating lean–green [109]. This phase ensures that organizations are well-prepared to achieve their goals regarding sustainability and efficiency.
Phase 3: Technology: This transformative phase will provide the SSA petroleum industry with the tools to achieve lean–green objectives. Advanced technologies can overcome regulatory hurdles and bridge technological gaps while improving sustainability performance. Technology applied in SSA has already brought about both environmental and economic benefits, such as gas-to-liquid technology (GTL) in Nigeria [110] and renewable energy in Ghana [111]. This could give opportunities for strengthening competitive advantage, green innovation, and entrepreneurship, as stated by the authors of [112].
Phase 4: Monitoring and reporting: This phase is critical to the long-term success of sustaining continuous improvement in the petroleum industry’s lean–green integration. It involves assessing strategy performance, monitoring sustainability metrics, ensuring regulatory compliance, and promoting stakeholder accountability and transparency [109]. Some of the key steps that should be followed include the following:
  • KPIs that align with the goals of lean–green, such as waste reduction, energy efficiency, and employee satisfaction, should be developed.
  • Using technologies for the continuous monitoring of gas emissions and waste generation. For example, Chevron uses technologies to find and fix methane emissions.
  • Produce reports using established reporting standards like the Global Reporting Initiative.

6. Conclusions, Limitations, and Future Prospects

6.1. Conclusions

This review explored integrating lean and green practices within the petroleum industry, highlighting their potential to drive operational efficiency and reduce environmental impact. Lean practices focus on minimizing waste and optimizing processes, while green practices aim to reduce the ecological footprint and lower greenhouse gas emissions through sustainable resource management, renewable energy integration, and energy conservation. This review identifies how these practices, when integrated, can lead to significant benefits, such as improved resource utilization, reduced operational costs, and enhanced sustainability efforts within the industry.
Building on these insights, five critical success factors were identified through the literature review such as management and stakeholders’ commitment, employee engagement, regulatory compliance, available methods and tools, as well as technological innovation. These elements serve as the foundation for evaluating performance metrics across environmental, economic, and social dimensions within the petroleum industry, offering a structured approach to assessing lean and green effectiveness.
Challenges to lean and green applications in SSA included regulatory hurdles, infrastructural and technological gaps, and financing, among others. However, this review recommends that they can be effectively mitigated through a thorough understanding of lean–green principles coupled with applying the Sus-VSM (sustainable value stream mapping) tool. This research further identified a significant gap in the existing body of knowledge, particularly in comparison to the automotive industry, where lean–green integration has been more extensively studied. This gap underscores the novel contribution of this work in addressing the specific application of these concepts within the petroleum industry. It will benefit practitioners in terms of understanding the concept.

6.2. Limitations

While this study provides valuable insights, several limitations must be acknowledged. Firstly, the review was based solely on existing literature. Also, the study is constrained by the relatively sparse research on lean–green integration in the petroleum industry. This could mean that some of the conclusions drawn are based on extrapolation from industries with more extensive experience, such as automotive manufacturing.

6.3. Future Prospects

Given the identified limitations, more research on validated models to assess the efficacy of lean–green integration in real-world petroleum industry settings can be developed to show how it can impact organizational culture, regulatory factors, and supply chain dynamics.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, F.D., C.D., H.N.D., O.O., J.R. and A.I. Methodology, F.D. and C.D. Formal analysis, F.D., C.D. and H.N.D. Original draft preparation F.D. and C.D. Writing—review and editing F.D., C.D., H.N.D., O.O., J.R. and A.I. Supervision, O.O., H.N.D. and J.R. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Data Availability Statement

Data are contained within the article.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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Figure 1. Petroleum supply chain and suggested green initiatives.
Figure 1. Petroleum supply chain and suggested green initiatives.
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Figure 2. Distributions of publications by year.
Figure 2. Distributions of publications by year.
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Figure 3. Article keywords categorization.
Figure 3. Article keywords categorization.
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Figure 4. Identified CSFs for lean–green integration.
Figure 4. Identified CSFs for lean–green integration.
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Figure 5. Roadmap for the implementation of lean and green.
Figure 5. Roadmap for the implementation of lean and green.
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Table 1. Lean and green case study.
Table 1. Lean and green case study.
Company NamePracticeResults
Shell (UK)Implemented a closed-loop water recycling system in their fracking operation and invested in carbon capture and storage [47].Minimized water usage and wastewater disposal and reduced greenhouse gas.
Chevron (USA)Implemented advanced analytics and automation methods to monitor operations [48,49,50].Reduced the operational waste and environmental impact of drilling operations.
Total (France)Installed energy-efficient equipment and renewable energy sources [48].Reduction in carbon footprint, energy consumption, and emissions.
Statoil (Norway)Invested in innovative technologies like gas compression for capturing and utilization [51,52].Reduced greenhouse gas and maximized resource utilization.
BP (UK)Invested in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power and infrastructure for electric charging vehicles [48,53].Reduced emission and improved energy performance.
Aramco (Saudi Arabia)Invested in carbon capture and storage technologies [54,55,56].Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Petrobras (Brazil)Improved drilling efficiency using real-time monitoring and data analytics [57,58].Reduction in environmental waste.
Table 2. Suggested green initiatives within the petroleum industry supply chain.
Table 2. Suggested green initiatives within the petroleum industry supply chain.
InitiativesPossible ImpactApplication for SSA
A. Advanced refining technologies such as molecular refining, catalysis, and digitalization [64,65,66]. Allows refineries to create bespoke processing techniques to optimize yields of desired products, cleaner production, and minimize waste.If implemented, it will enable predictive maintenance, which minimizes costs and downtime. It will also enhance efficiency and product quality through improved process control.
B. Automation [61,62,66].Streamlines real-time process optimization and the predictive maintenance of facilities and equipment, utilizing data analytics, sensor data, and digitalization to reduce energy consumption, improve efficiency, and enhance product quality.It would improve energy efficiency and impact the entire petroleum value chain if implemented.
C. Heavy Oil processing (visbreaking and hydrocracking) [59,60,61,64].The visbreaking process breaks down heavy oil molecules, resulting in lighter components like diesel and gasoline, while hydrocracking technology merges cracking with hydrogenation, resulting in lighter products.Ensure consistent regulatory compliance and stakeholders’ engagement regarding agreed-upon refining outputs.
Cleaner energy would be produced from these lighter products.
D. Advanced separation techniques (adsorption, membrane separation, and extractive distillation) [59,60,61,64].Adsorption, extractive distillation, and membrane separation are methods used to selectively capture and separate components from crude oil, enhancing product yields and reducing energy consumption.Reduce energy consumption and improve product quality and energy efficiency throughout the petroleum value chain.
E. Environmental technologies [59,60,64,67].Clean technologies, such as hydrotreating, and environmental technologies, such as flare gas recovery units and tail gas treating units, produce cleaner-burning fuels with reduced emissions.Ensure consistent regulatory compliance and stakeholders’ engagement regarding agreed refining outputs and flare limits.
Cleaner energy from these lighter products and reduced GHG emissions.
Table 3. The benefits of integrating lean and green.
Table 3. The benefits of integrating lean and green.
IndustryBenefitsReference/Country
Manufacturing SMEIncrease the overall operational efficiency by decreasing the lead time by 63%, and enhance the environmental performance by decreasing the average carbon footprint by 77%.[71]/UK
Manufacturing PlantImprove operational performance through the elimination of waste, thereby reducing costs and enhancing sustainability.[72]/USA
Manufacturing SMEEnhanced supply chain sustainability.[73]/UK
Manufacturing The company has seen significant improvements in operational metrics, including increased value-added time, decreased quality defect rates, decreased inventory, and increased availability. These improvements have reduced water, energy, and raw materials consumption, resulting in greener performance.[74]/Africa
ManufacturingThis study found that while lean production and green practices significantly impact sustainability performance, green product innovation only significantly impacts financial performance.[75]/Africa
AgricultureDevelop a model for the evaluation of the integration of lean and green systems for sustainability in the agriculture sector.[38]/Columbia
Aerospace
Automotive		Help reduce the consumption of resources and improve their environmental performance.[76]/USA and Africa
Table 4. Lean–green implementation models and their benefits applicable to the SSA Petroleum industry.
Table 4. Lean–green implementation models and their benefits applicable to the SSA Petroleum industry.
ModelBenefits
Gemba–Kaizen model [76]Reduce resource consumption and improve environmental performance.
Circular economy model [88]Minimizes waste by reducing, reusing, and recycling.
Sustainable energy management system [89]Helps industries identify inefficiencies and implement corrective measures promptly.
Lean–green decision model [90] Effective economic and environmental indicators.
Self-assessment model [46]Assessment of green–lean implementation readiness.
Table 5. Review paper phases, objectives, methods, and tools.
Table 5. Review paper phases, objectives, methods, and tools.
Section 1Section 2Section 3Section 4Section 5 and Section 6
PhasesIntroductionLiterature review MethodologyDescriptive analysisKey findings and conclusion
ObjectivesOverview of the research, aims, and questionsMethods used and literature reviewAnalysis and categorization of articles Findings, prospects, and limitations
Method
  • Utilize selected electronic databases;
  • Selection criteria, search periods.
  • Publications distributions by year;
  • Keywords categorization.
Tools
  • Springer, IEEE, Taylor and Francis, ScienceDirect (Elsevier), MDPI, Emerald, Google Scholar;
  • Lean and green in the Petroleum industry;
  • 1990–2024.
  • Descriptive analysis;
  • Microsoft Excel.
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Dibia, F.; Dibia, C.; Dhakal, H.N.; Okpako, O.; Radulovic, J.; Isike, A. A Review on Achieving Sustainability in the Petroleum Industry Through the Integration of Lean and Green. Appl. Sci. 2025, 15, 2333. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15052333

AMA Style

Dibia F, Dibia C, Dhakal HN, Okpako O, Radulovic J, Isike A. A Review on Achieving Sustainability in the Petroleum Industry Through the Integration of Lean and Green. Applied Sciences. 2025; 15(5):2333. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15052333

Chicago/Turabian Style

Dibia, Felister, Chinedu Dibia, Hom Nath Dhakal, Oghenovo Okpako, Jovana Radulovic, and Augustine Isike. 2025. "A Review on Achieving Sustainability in the Petroleum Industry Through the Integration of Lean and Green" Applied Sciences 15, no. 5: 2333. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15052333

APA Style

Dibia, F., Dibia, C., Dhakal, H. N., Okpako, O., Radulovic, J., & Isike, A. (2025). A Review on Achieving Sustainability in the Petroleum Industry Through the Integration of Lean and Green. Applied Sciences, 15(5), 2333. https://doi.org/10.3390/app15052333

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