Adnoc to explore potential of new fuels such as hydrogen, CEO says

Abu Dhabi oil company intends to lower its carbon footprint by 25% over the next 10 years

Dr Al Jaber has long-standing experience of advocacy on environment related matters, having spearheaded a clean energy agenda for almost 15 years Courtesy: Adnoc

Adnoc will explore the potential of new fuels such as hydrogen as it moves to reduce its carbon intensity over the next decade.

“We all have a role to play and we as an industry can do more on climate change,” said Dr Sultan Al Jaber, Adnoc group chief executive and Minister for Industry and Advanced Technology.

Dr Al Jaber was speaking at the annual Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, which is being held online this year due to Covid-19.

“Adnoc is already one of the least carbon intensive producers in the world ... and [over] the next 10 years, we will reduce our greenhouse gas intensity by ... 25 per cent.”

The company plans to expand its carbon capture programme to store about five million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

Big oil companies have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint this year amid a change in narrative in the fossil fuel industry prompted by coronavirus-induced restrictions.

Movement restrictions, which led to a halt in global air and ground transport and curbed oil demand, also prompted oil and gas companies to re-evaluate their strategies.

BP wrote off oil and gas assets worth $17.5 billion this year and plans to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Adnoc intends to expand its carbon capture, utilisation and storage programme to handle 5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2030, up from 800,000 tonnes currently.

Harvesting carbon dioxide for use in oil wells has become popular among upstream operators looking for more sustainable ways to increase the productivity of mature fields.

Adnoc has used carbon dioxide captured by Al Reyadah Company, which sources gas from industrial factories in Mussafah, to enhance oil recovery.

The state-owned oil company also plans to harvest 2.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from the Shah gas plant, while the Habshan and Bab plants could allow for the capture and use of about 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

Meanwhile, Dr Al Jaber said the “long-term fundamentals” of the energy industry remained intact.

“We expect that oil demand will grow to over 105 million barrels per day by 2030 and continue to supply over half the world’s energy needs for many decades to come," he said.

"At the same time, the petrochemicals sector will continue to grow at a healthy pace, through and beyond 2050.”

He noted that 75 million bpd of oil was consumed around the world between March and April. Oil demand was below 90 million bpd for only 12 weeks this year.

“So, we know the world still needs oil and gas,” he said.

Dr Al Jaber also highlighted the company’s shift to digitisation and cost efficiencies attributed to artificial intelligence.

“We have saved over $1bn in the last four years by leveraging big data through our Panorama command centre. We have captured an additional $2bn by adopting digital drilling,” he said.

On Sunday, Schlumberger, the world's largest oil and gas services company, said it was joining Group 42 and AIQ to develop and sell AI products to the exploration and production market around the world.

AIQ is a joint venture between G42 and Adnoc to develop and commercialise AI products and applications for the oil and gas industry.