The facility will serve 'as a testing platform for next-generation CO2 capture materials in Saudi Arabia's distinct climate'.
Developed with Siemens Energy, the plant will serve “as a testing platform for next-generation CO2 capture materials in Saudi Arabia’s distinct climate”, Aramco said in a press release. “It will also seek to achieve cost reductions that could help accelerate the deployment of DAC technologies in the region.
“Aramco and Siemens Energy intend to continue working closely together with the aim of scaling up the technology, potentially laying the foundations for large-scale DAC facilities in the future”.
Ali A. Al-Meshari, senior vice president for technology oversight and coordination at Aramco, commented, “Technologies that directly capture carbon dioxide from the air will likely play an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions moving forward, particularly in hard-to-abate sectors”.
“In addition to helping address emissions, the CO2 extracted through this process can in turn be used to produce more sustainable chemicals and fuels”, Al-Meshari added.
Carbon capture is part of Aramco’s strategy to reach net-zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions across wholly owned assets by 2050.
Late last year Aramco signed a shareholder agreement with industrial gases and engineering company Linde PLC and energy technology company SLB to build a carbon capture and storage (CCS) hub in Saudi Arabia. Aramco will own a 60 percent stake in the project. Linde and SLB will each hold 20 percent.
To be developed in phases, the project “is expected to become one of the largest globally”, Aramco said in a statement December 4, 2024. Expected to be completed 2027, phase 1 will capture 9 million metric tons per annum of CO2 from three Aramco gas plants and other industrial sources.
Captured emissions will be transported via a pipeline network and stored underground in a saline aquifer sink, “leveraging the Kingdom’s significant geological potential for CO2 storage”, Aramco said. The project is located in Jubail, a city on the coast of the Persian Gulf.
The CCS hub “supports Aramco’s ambition to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions across its wholly-owned operated assets by 2050, and its interim target of reducing Upstream carbon intensity by 15 percent by 2035”, the company said.
It “also complements the Company’s blue hydrogen and ammonia program”, Aramco said.
Announced at the Saudi Green Initiative Forum in Riyadh, the project “reflects a circular carbon economy approach to reducing emissions that will contribute to the Kingdom’s 2060 net-zero target”, Aramco said.
Linde will bring its “innovative technology and experience in delivering world-scale decarbonization projects”, said Oliver Pfann, Linde senior vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
SLB president for new energy Gavin Rennick said, “Leveraging our proven portfolio of CCS technologies and extensive experience in complex CCS projects around the world, we are confident that SLB will play a critical role in advancing this important initiative”.
