Aramco delivers innovation at COP21

Saudi Aramco demonstrated its ongoing commitment to climate change at the United Nation’s Climate Change Conference (COP21) held in Paris in December 2015. Maintaining a strong presence at the event, we exhibited a number of technological displays, which focused on reducing the use of fossil fuels. 

COP21 was the culmination of a year of negotiation with representatives from 195 nations, including Saudi Arabia, reaching a historic agreement to work towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The main goal of which is to limit global warming under 2°C compared to pre-industrial levels.

Meeting energy demand while addressing climate issues can produce a number of challenges for those in the oil and gas industry. Saudi Aramco is creating opportunities and developing innovative technologies to address these environmental issues. Exhibiting at La Galerie as part of COP21, we showcased a number of projects including: 

•  An on-board carbon capture storage system vehicle: In a world first, we have produced a unique car that is both environmentally friendly and capable of capturing and storing its own carbon emissions. The system consists of three components: a carbon capture unit utilising absorbent materials from the exhaust stream, a tank used for compression and storage, and a unit that recycles the heat produced by the vehicle to operate the whole carbon capture system without any need for additional energy supply from external resources.

•  'Uthmaniyah CO2-enhanced oil recovery cross sectional scale model: Carbon capture and storage is a critical part of the global mission to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This project is the largest of its kind in the Middle East and is regarded as a milestone for the Kingdom's efforts in carbon management. The CO2 capture project works by injecting compressed CO2 into flooded oil reservoirs as a mechanism for CO2 storage, and the injection of CO2 under high pressure simultaneous enhances oil recovery. For these reasons, carbon capture and storage is a win-win technological solution.

The goal for Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabia is to preserve the environment while providing sustainable energy to the world and meeting global demand. Involvement at COP21 and investment in developing new technologies illustrates our drive for innovation to reduce CO2 emissions and research more environmentally efficient techniques.