The President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, Amin H. Nasser, together with the chief executive officers of 9 of the world’s largest oil and gas companies - which together provide almost a fifth of all oil and gas production and supply over 10% of the world’s energy – met together in Paris to declare their collective support for an effective climate change agreement to be reached at the upcoming UN Conference on Climate Change (COP21).
In the milestone collaborative declaration of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI), the CEOs of the 10 member companies agreed to collaborate in a number of areas and to strengthen their actions and investments, and to play their part in reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of the energy sector. The 10 member companies are Saudi Aramco, BG Group, BP, Eni, Pemex, Reliance, Repsol, Shell, Statoil and Total.
Speaking in Paris, Amin H. Nasser said: “As our track record shows, Saudi Aramco is committed to playing its part. Energy efficiency has been and will continue to be a top priority in everything we do to both benefit the Kingdom and to maintain our position as the world’s largest, most reliable oil and gas producer.”
“We believe that partnerships and collaboration are essential to address global challenges. We are therefore proud to be a founding member of the OGCI, which helps to put the oil and gas industry at the forefront of solutions to climate change and help demonstrate that a technology-driven, industry-enabled approach is the only viable way forward.”
The OGCI also today launched its collaborative report titled “More Energy, Lower Emissions.” This report highlights practical actions taken by member companies, including Saudi Aramco, to improve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions management and work toward reducing the climate change impacts of the industry. These actions include significant investments in natural gas, carbon capture and storage, and renewable energy, as well as low-GHG research and development.
Saudi Aramco’s environmental protection policy was established in 1963 and the company’s comprehensive Energy Management Program is designed to both promote energy efficiency at the national level as well as continuously improve the efficiency of company facilities, by replacing older, lower efficiency power plants with new, higher technology and higher efficiency plants. This approach will also help drive significant fuel savings in the utility sector. In addition, the company supports the Saudi Energy Efficiency Program that aims to improve the efficiency of energy use in residential and commercial settings, in addition to industry and transportation.
Innovation and advanced technology are critical to Saudi Aramco’s strategy and examples of energy efficiency practices and technologies include:
- Gas flaring – Saudi Aramco’s total flared gas is industry-leading at less than 1%.
- Zero discharge technology – In 2014 Saudi Aramco deployed zero discharge technology at 432 well sites to enhance oil and gas recovery, enabling the recovery of 7.6bln scf of gas and 415,000 barrels of oil.
- Cleaner fuels and fuel efficiency – Saudi Aramco has a range of advanced Research & Development projects underway, including with auto manufacturers, on fuel and engine efficiency to increase the mileage efficiency of vehicles and to reduce pollutant emissions of future engines.
- Carbon Capture and Storage – in July 2015 Saudi Aramco launched Saudi Arabia’s first CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery pilot project at the Uthmaniyah field and Hawiyah facilities. The project will inject 800,000 tons of CO2 every year. In addition, the company has invested in technology start-ups, including Novomer, which develops catalysts capable of efficiently and profitably converting CO2 into valuable products, such as polyurethanes.
- Renewables – Saudi Aramco is considering 300MW of wind and solar projects to replace liquid fuels in power generation, and a wind power feasibility study is underway for bulk plants.