Today's Edition
SAEED AL HAJJAR (ABU DHABI)
The UAE’s oil sector plays a significant role in supporting the country’s efforts to reduce emissions and address climate change challenges, with industry leaders producing several pioneering initiatives for carbon removal.
The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has announced its aim to enhance its position as a reliable and responsible provider of low-emission energy, having initially allocated Dh55 billion ($15 billion) to boost investment in low-carbon solutions, new energies, and emission reduction technologies. The company also has set an emissions reduction target 25% by 2030, and has announced its intention to achieve its new climate neutrality target by 2045, five years earlier than originally planned.
Earlier this year, ADNOC announced an ambitious new strategy to advance its global emission reduction efforts, aligning with ADNOC’s Board of Directors November 2022 decision to accelerate the implementation of its low-carbon growth strategy and to adopt its carbon neutrality by 2050 plan. In recent months, the company has announced several initiatives to contribute to accelerating both the company and the country’s emissions reduction goals.
Along with emission reduction initiatives announced last October, ADNOC announced a partnership with the EDGE Group to utilise drone technology, made in the UAE, across its onshore and offshore operations, aimed at reducing emissions.
Abu Dhabi Autonomous Systems Investments (ADASI), the autonomous systems arm of the EDGE Group, will repurpose its drones for ADNOC to use in its operational areas to reduce emissions, enhance environmental performance, monitor operations, and provide support in emergency response situations. ADNOC and ADASI entered into a commercial partnership agreement for the use of specialised drones in detecting greenhouse gas leaks and conducting precise inspections of the company’s assets and infrastructure.
This partnership underscores ADNOC’s commitment to leveraging the latest technologies to accelerate efforts to reduce emissions from its operations. The EDGE drones, equipped with state-of-the-art imaging technologies, will support ADNOC’s endeavours to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as the drones can cover vast areas, reducing the need for transportation and the presence of equipment and personnel in potentially hazardous work environments.
Zero EmissionsLast October, ADNOC also announced the final investment decision and contract awards for the development of the Hail and Ghasha offshore field project, which is intended to operate with net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. The project enhances ADNOC’s legacy in responsible energy production, supporting its ambition to achieve climate neutrality by 2045, along with its plans to accelerate emission reduction efforts.
The contracts were signed during ADIPEC 2023, the world’s largest energy sector gathering, and included two contracts for engineering, procurement, and construction for Hail and Ghasha field, which is part of Abu Dhabi’s Ghasha Concession.
The project is anticipated to produce over 1.5 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day by the end of the decade, contributing to the UAE’s self-sufficiency in gas and enhancing ADNOC’s plans to develop its gas business and expand its exports of liquefied natural gas.
The design of the Hail and Ghasha project integrates several innovative emissions reduction technologies into one comprehensive solution. The project will capture 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, contributing to ADNOC’s carbon capture capacity commitment of 4 million tonnes annually.
The captured carbon dioxide gas will be transported by sea and safely stored underground, while producing low-carbon hydrogen as an alternative to gas used as a fuel source, significantly reducing emissions. The project will also benefit from clean electricity from the state’s renewable and nuclear energy grid.
Supporting ADNOC’s expanded carbon management strategy, this carbon capture initiative from the Hail and Ghasha fields aims to create a unique platform linking all emission sources and carbon sequestration sites to accelerate the UAE’s and ADNOC’s emission reduction goals. The final investment decision followed ADNOC’s announcement of its intention to double its carbon capture target to 10 million tonnes annually by 2030.
Electric Vehicle BatteriesADNOC recently launched a pilot project to reuse batteries from electric vehicles to reduce emissions from production operations and cut costs at company sites outside the electrical grid network. The project, operated in collaboration with German company Power ID, aims to assemble discarded batteries to build a large-scale energy storage battery system.
The system, to be assembled in the UAE, can store up to 2 megawatts of energy in a single 20-foot container that is movable. This makes it usable for providing energy to company operation sites located outside the grid network. The energy storage battery system will reduce reliance on diesel generators and is used to provide electricity for operating drilling platforms in off-grid locations. It is expected that the system will reduce emissions from drilling platforms by up to 25% and cut energy costs by 50%. As part of its long-term plans to develop energy storage technologies and systems, ADNOC established the UAE’s first Battery Centre of Excellence within the ADNOC Research and Innovation Centre. The centre aims to conduct research on promising energy cell technologies and future battery storage systems.
Liquefied Natural Gas In October last year, ADNOC awarded a contract worth more than Dh1.47 billion (over $400 million) to Nuovo Pignone International S.r.l, a subsidiary of Baker Hughes, to supply compression systems for liquefying natural gas fully powered by electricity generated from clean energy sources. This is for its low-emission liquefied natural gas facility in Al Ruwais Industrial City of Al Dhafra region.
The Ruwais LNG facility will be the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa to operate on clean energy-generated electricity, making it one of the world’s least carbon-intensive natural gas liquefaction facilities.
The project consists of two natural gas liquefaction lines, each with an annual production capacity of 4.8 million metric tonnes, totalling 9.6 million tonnes annually. Upon completion, the project will more than double ADNOC’s targeted production capacity of LNG, meeting the growing global demand for this vital resource. The contract award reaffirms ADNOC’s commitment to accelerating the implementation of its plans to achieve climate neutrality and reduce emissions, marking a significant achievement in its ongoing efforts to benefit from its legacy as a leader in responsible energy production with a focus on doubling its emission reduction efforts.
Sustainable FuelLast month, ADNOC announced that its Al Ruwais Refinery had obtained the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) for producing sustainable aviation fuel, making it the first company in the Middle East to receive this distinguished international recognition. This confirms the company’s commitment to collaborating with its customers to accelerate their efforts to reduce emissions. With this certification for producing sustainable aviation fuel through co-processing using existing refining refineries, in line with the ISCC EU/CORSIA PLUS carbon offset and reduction plan for international aviation, ADNOC will be able to supply international airlines at Abu Dhabi International Airport with sustainable aviation fuel produced using used cooking oils as raw material blended with jet fuel at Al Ruwais Refinery.
Recent CollaborationADNOC and Occidental recently agreed to conduct a joint preliminary engineering study for building the first Direct Air Capture facility (with mega-tonne capacity) outside the United States. This agreement represents the first project to reach the technical feasibility stage since the companies signed a strategic collaboration agreement in August 2023. This agreement aims to explore opportunities for developing carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) projects in the UAE and the US.
The study aims to assess a proposed facility for Direct Air Capture with an annual capacity of one million tonnes. This facility would be connected to ADNOC’s carbon dioxide infrastructure for its injection and permanent storage in unused saline aquifers in oil and gas production operations. ADNOC is working on testing the world’s first well for injecting and completely isolating carbon dioxide in a carbon saline aquifer in Abu Dhabi. In August 2023, ADNOC and Occidental signed a strategic cooperation agreement to evaluate potential investment opportunities in carbon dioxide capture and storage centres in the UAE and the US, and integrate climate technologies in energy projects, such as producing emission-free energy and sustainable fuels.
Strategic PartnershipsADNOC and Fertiglobe, a strategic partnership between ADNOC and Netherlands-listed OCI, announced last month the pilot application of the world’s first modular carbon capture unit using CycloneCC technology. This unit, developed by Carbon Clean, is installed at Fertiglobe’s wholly-owned nitrogen fertiliser plant in Al Ruwais Industrial Complex in Abu Dhabi, UAE. This technology aims to reduce the cost of carbon capture from emission sources in industrial facilities. The CycloneCC carbon capture unit enhances ADNOC’s current project capacity for capturing and storing carbon dioxide in carbon saline aquifers in Abu Dhabi’s desert areas. Successful trials could lead to the widespread implementation of the cost-effective CycloneCC technology in ADNOC and Fertiglobe’s operations.
Since 2016, ADNOC has been operating the Al Reyadah facility for carbon capture, utilisation, and storage in Abu Dhabi, capable of capturing up to 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. ADNOC is also working on several innovative technological projects, including a project for complete mining and storage of carbon dioxide and another for injecting it into saline aquifers in Abu Dhabi.
In September, ADNOC took the final investment decision to develop one of the largest carbon capture projects in the Middle East and North Africa. The flagship Habshan project for carbon capture, utilisation, and storage will capture 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, injecting and permanently storing it in deep geological formations. This project will triple ADNOC’s carbon capture capacity to 2.3 million tonnes annually, equivalent to removing over 500,000 gasoline cars from the roads each year. ADNOC Gas will build, operate, and maintain this project, which includes carbon capture units at the Habshan gas processing plant, an integrated pipeline infrastructure, and a network of wells for carbon dioxide injection.
ADNOC and TAQA (Abu Dhabi National Energy Company) announced in September 2023 the completion of a financing deal worth Dh8.3 billion ($2.2 billion) for their strategic project to provide sustainable water supplies to ADNOC’s onshore operations. This strategic investment aims to develop and operate facilities for sustainable seawater treatment and supply it to ADNOC’s onshore operations in the Bab and Bu Hasa fields in Abu Dhabi. The project is expected to reduce electricity consumption needed for water injection operations by up to 30%, replacing the current use of highly saline deep groundwater systems. The project will source all its electricity needs from clean energy sources.
ADNOC and the National Central Cooling Company (Tabreed) announced in August 2023 a major achievement in the first-of-its-kind geothermal energy utilisation project in the Gulf region, following the completion of testing two geothermal wells in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi. The pioneering project aims to reduce emissions from cooling buildings in Masdar City, and contribute to diversifying the energy mix in the UAE. The wells produced hot water exceeding 90 degrees Celsius at a flow rate of nearly 100 litres per second. The heat generated from the well water will be passed through an absorption chiller system to produce chilled water, which will be pumped into Tabreed’s district cooling network in Masdar City, meeting 10% of the city’s cooling needs.
ADNOC in July announced the start of constructing the first ultra-fast hydrogen fuelling station in the Middle East in Masdar City. The station, which is being developed, will produce clean hydrogen from water using an electrolyser powered by a clean electricity grid. ADNOC is collaborating on this project with Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Al-Futtaim Motors to test the ultra-fast hydrogen fuelling station using a number of vehicles powered by clean hydrogen.
As part of its efforts to accelerate the implementation of its low-carbon growth strategy, ADNOC announced last December the establishment of a new sector for low-carbon solutions and international growth. ADNOC revealed several initiatives to reduce emissions over recent years, including a strategic agreement with the Emirates Water and Electricity Company to receive 100% of its electricity needs from nuclear and solar clean energy sources, becoming the first company in the energy sector to secure its electricity needs from emission-free sources through a clean energy agreement.
Advanced TechnologiesADNOC announced early this year its collaboration with the Fujairah Natural Resources Corporation, Masdar, and the company, 44.01, to launch a pilot project based on technology that mines carbon dioxide and permanently converts it into rock within the geological formations in Fujairah. The project will use the carbon capture and mineralisation (CCM) technology of 44.01 to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
ADNOC Distribution and TAQA signed an agreement earlier this year to launch a new partnership called E2GO to establish and operate the necessary infrastructure for charging electric vehicles in Abu Dhabi and across the country.
TAQA announced at the end of last year its comprehensive environmental, social, and governance strategy for 2030, which includes the interim goals set by the leading national utilities company for low-carbon, aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming.
