Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage

Planet

Global demand for energy is growing, and we are committed to ensuring a sustainable energy future. We believe carbon capture and storage is a central part of efforts to achieve net zero emissions, while ensuring the world can continue to thrive.

How does carbon capture work?

Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) is a set of technologies that capture carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions at source, preventing them from entering the atmosphere, or else directly from the air. The CO₂ emissions are then transported away and either stored deep underground or turned into useful products.

Capturing carbon has been used for decades as a way to help improve the quality of natural gas, but by pioneering new technologies we can now remove and sequester CO₂ indefinitely. Moreover, we can now add value to what has always been considered a waste product, by turning CO₂ into marketable industrial and commercial products.

How does carbon capture work? Carbon capture storage facility plant — Carbon capture storage facility and plant

What carbon capture technologies are available?

Capture is the process of capturing CO₂ from exhaust or reformed gases or stationary sources, using technologies categorized under pre-combustion, post-combustion or oxy-combustion
Sequestration is the process of depositing the captured CO₂ in geological formations
Utilization is the direct use of captured CO₂ (for example in cement) or the conversion of captured CO₂ and other gases into useful industrial products, such as chemicals or fuels
Mobile Carbon Capture technology can capture CO₂ from mobile sources and store it on board, ready to be taken away for sequestration or utilization
Direct Air Capture is the process of capturing CO₂ directly from the atmosphere (rather than at source) and remove CO₂ to be sequestered or utilized
Oxy-combustion is a technology that uses pure oxygen to combust fuels, increasing combustion efficiency and increasing the concentration of CO₂ in flue gases, enabling easier CO₂ capture
Bio Energy Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS) uses CCS technology to extract and store CO₂ from biomass, itself a renewable energy source
Nature can act as a natural carbon sink, such as mangrove trees which sequester carbon far more effectively (up to 100 times faster) and more permanently than terrestrial forests

What are we doing?

As the world's largest integrated oil and gas company, we believe we are uniquely qualified to drive the technology and collaboration needed to address the global emissions challenge. Our innovative low-carbon practices and technologies already position us as one of the lowest carbon emitters in our industry, and we have the brightest minds continuing their pioneering work in carbon capture and sequestration.

Capturing carbon at Hawiyah

Hawiyah Gas Plant uses carbon capture technology to capture 40 million standard cubic feet of CO₂ every day. This is then piped 85km to the 'Uthmaniyah oil field and injected into the oil reservoir – not only sequestering CO₂ but also helping to maintain the pressure in the reservoir and enhance oil recovery (EOR).

The design of this CO₂ EOR project uses 'Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4) technology to enable reservoir stimulation studies, an Intelligent field and comprehensive monitoring, allowing us to remove CO₂, increase our oil production sustainably, and reduce operational costs.

Capturing carbon at Hawiyah gas plant — Capturing carbon at Hawiyah

The Master Gas System – fueling a nation

The Master Gas System (MGS) was one of the biggest energy projects in Aramco’s history, enabling one of the world’s largest gas markets and transforming the national energy mix toward clean fuel

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Aramco test vehicle in front of Research and Development facilities — Game-changing transport technologies

Game-changing transport technologies

Using Mobile Carbon Capture (MCC) technology, we are working with a number of partners to develop carbon capture and storage technologies for cars and trucks, which will enable the unloading of CO₂ at fuel stations for sequestration or recycling into other forms of material or energy.

The latest variant of the technology can capture up to 25 percent of the CO₂ emitted from a vehicle's exhaust, which is stored on board the vehicle. Once it has been offloaded it can be utilized by turning it into a variety of industrial and commercial applications.

The future of carbon capture

The transition to a low carbon future will be a complex process. Alternatives will take significant time, and renewables - although part of the solution - cannot do it alone. We are playing a leading role in advancing CCUS, but collaboration between all stakeholders will be vital.

As a founding member of the Oil & Gas Climate Initiative (OCGI), we partner with many of the world's leading energy companies to speed the development of CCUS technologies and other GHG emissions reduction solutions. We have also joined forces with public and private institutions around the world to pioneer new ways to recover and use oil and gas, so that we can continue to empower people and economies while emitting significantly less emissions.

The circular carbon economy

CCUS is instrumental in enabling the circular carbon economy, a framework in which emissions of carbon and other GHG are addressed through the 4 Rs: Reduce; Reuse; Recycle; Remove. This circular cycle is what the earth has been doing for billions of years, and by emulating this approach we may help restore the balance of carbon and achieve the greatest impact in reducing global emissions.