Saudi Aramco calls for focus on reducing carbon footprint of oil and gas

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Aramco Upstream business line head, Nasir K. Al-Naimi, stressed the importance of oil and gas companies reducing their CO2 footprint, indicating this was the key to achieving a successful energy transition.
 

The statements came during an interview screened at the International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
 

“While new energy has a role to play, it will be a while before it is ready to shoulder a significant burden of the growing world energy demand. There should be more focus on reducing the carbon footprint of oil and gas, which is exactly what Aramco and its industry are doing,” Al-Naimi said.
 

He also outlined three key requirements for maintaining secure and reliable energy supplies in future, namely groundbreaking technologies; innovation; and collaboration among oil and gas companies, new energy companies, energy equipment manufacturers, service providers, technology developers and all other stakeholders, including governments.

Al-Naimi also emphasized the importance of technology, describing it as an “integral component” of energy industry development.
 

"The importance of cutting-edge technology can’t be overstated. Technology is an integral component of our drive to develop breakthrough solutions that yield economic benefits to support a sustainable energy supply.”

Looking ahead, Al-Naimi predicted oil would continue to be an important part of the global energy mix, but outlined other areas of focus for Aramco that will increasingly move it toward a goal of reducing carbon from its energy portfolio.
 

This includes a much larger refining and marketing business, growing to 8-10 million barrels per day; substantially more chemicals, which will be integrated with its refineries, and take advantage of the research done on direct conversion of crude into petrochemicals.
 

In addition, non-metallic materials is another area of emphasis, with major opportunities in large end-use sectors, he said.
 

“Cleaner gas is another business that we plan to grow, both domestically and internationally. We see large potential in Blue Hydrogen and Blue Ammonia from oil and gas, combined with CCUS,” Al-Naimi concluded.

According to Al-Naimi, that are other fields that will help accelerate the achievement of Aramco's goals, represented in a much larger refining and marketing business, growing to 8-10 million barrels per day, achieving a substantial increase in chemicals. which will be integrated with Aramco's refineries. This is in addition to taking advantage of the research carried out by the oil giant on direct conversion of crude into petrochemicals. Furthermore, non-metallic materials is another area of emphasis, with major opportunities in large end-use sectors.
 

He pointed out that Saudi Aramco plans to grow its clean gas business, both domestically and internationally, saying that there is huge potential in blue hydrogen and blue ammonia from oil and gas, combined with carbon capture, utilization and storage.