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Minasan Kon-nichiwa
Good afternoon everyone.
It is my pleasure to be back in Tokyo to continue the many productive conversations from my visit last year.
Japanese innovation is highly regarded around the world, and especially in Saudi Arabia. That is why we are always pleased to partner with Japanese colleagues as we have so much we can learn from each other.
I want to thank the Japan Cooperation Center for Petroleum and Sustainable Energy for co-hosting this event and deepening collaboration efforts between our two countries.
I still recall my first visit to Tokyo almost 30 years ago as an engineer working on developing a new major facility, which has since become the first in the company to process unconventional gas.
I am particularly pleased to be back here during the Autumn Appetite season, a time of changing colors and bountiful harvests.
And while it may seem the world’s energy appetite has changed since my first visit to Tokyo, what is clear to me is that hydrocarbons will be on the menu for many decades to come.
They are not only essential ingredients to help achieve our development goals, but also our sustainability goals too.
Because reliable and affordable energy is an essential part of creating economies which are prosperous and innovative.
And we are going to need world class innovation if we are to pioneer new energy solutions which are more reliable, and existing energy solutions which are more efficient.
Improved reliability and improved efficiency are the twin pillars which Aramco’s Technology & Innovation strategy is built on. They are reinforced by the exceptional partnerships we have here in Japan.
Since my last visit, we have developed new joint efforts in areas like lower-carbon hydrogen and synthetic fuels. They can help meet our reliability, efficiency and sustainability goals on an industrial scale.
And scale can be make-or-break for innovation. Aramco’s unmatchable scale gives us a unique ability to test new technologies thoroughly and then deploy them widely if successful.
It means we adopt technologies, many of which are designed right here in Japan, to improve the efficiency of our operations.
We strive to make the energy we supply lower cost and lower in carbon emissions, whether that’s from new or conventional sources.
But, the global underinvestment in hydrocarbons has been stretching and stressing economies. You cannot achieve global development and sustainability goals without a thriving global economy.
This is why our collaboration matters. Innovating to meet both energy demand and emissions ambitions.
Because while we’ve made great progress on alternative solutions, the energy crisis at the beginning of this decade demonstrated that many of these alternative solutions are not ready yet.
And the world’s appetite for energy is not diminishing. If anything, it is hungrier than ever.
But, underinvestment means paying over the odds on both price and emissions.
So, our next step should be expanding our Technology & Innovation efforts while telling the real story of the energy transition.
A transition that will be multi-source, multi-speed, and multi-dimensional.
A multi-source transition which incentivizes long term investments in both new and conventional energy.
A multi-speed transition which gives greater and more practical attention to the special situations of lower income and developing countries.
A multi-dimensional transition which recognizes the vast climate protection opportunities in other sectors like food, materials and nature recovery.
And while we transition, we can demonstrate our expertise and ambition in all parts of the industry to further reduce both cost and carbon emissions while increasing returns on investment too.
This approach has already helped Aramco become one of the lowest cost and lowest carbon intensive crude oil producers in the industry.
We must continue to serve up innovations to match an insatiable global appetite for energy.
Innovations which expand the depth and breadth of the hydrocarbon market over the coming decades in areas like lower carbon hydrogen and synthetic fuels.
New materials that use oil and gas or CO2 as feedstock is another.
And I am always excited to hear about new materials design and catalyst technologies, an area I think artificial intelligence (AI) can have a big impact in.
AI can also significantly boost productivity, especially when its applied on an industrial scale. Earlier this year we launched Aramco MetaBrain, the first industrial Large Language Model.
It will make decades of expert knowledge across our business accessible to operators, technicians and engineers.
Our AI models are already using rich, proprietary field data to aid our operations. And with our recent launch of an NVIDIA SuperPod Cluster, Aramco MetaBrain can more efficiently tackle highly complex engineering problems like predicting fluid pressures in a reservoir.
By investing in new energies, new materials, digital technologies, and AI, we can mitigate the risks of continued underinvestment while attracting top young talent to work on stimulating challenges which address global issues.
While alternative energy technologies continue to mature, we should stay focused on improving efficiency across the industry, including areas like transport and power generation.
Because investments in energy efficiency and sustainability help to meet the goals of that multi-source transition.
And we should not be shy about our achievements and victories or the value oil and gas has created in powering prosperity.
I am proud of the work that we have done through JCCP over the years. Our decades long collaboration on the game-changing high severity fluid catalytic cracking (HS-FCC) technology is a great example of the depth and breadth of the relationship between our two great nations.
I believe with these next steps, we can inspire even more progress. I am confident that by continuing our work together, we have the right blend to create even more opportunities for our two countries and the world at large.
Just as Japan welcomes the harvest at this special time of year, our Symposium welcomes the fruits of our collaboration.
The challenge we have in front of us should not be underestimated, but we know that we have some of the world’s brightest minds with us and the opportunity to build a legacy which has a global impact.
I am proud of what we have achieved so far and look forward to seeing what more we can achieve together.
Thank you.