Sustainability and the Role of Technology

Sustainability has been always important to Saudi Aramco, and a major business driver for the global oil and gas industry in general. Recently, Energy Ministers from the G20 group of leading economies endorsed the circular carbon economy (CCE), which is a holistic, integrated, inclusive and pragmatic approach to manage and reduce national and global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is a closed loop system involving the application of the 4Rs framework (reduce, reuse, recycle, and remove). Such initiatives will balance sustainability with profitability and environmental stewardship.

For example, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has launched a national program under the CCE umbrella to consolidate and accelerate sustainability and reduce GHGs, which is being deployed across the Kingdom including at Saudi Aramco. One of the goals of this initiative and others adopted across the industry is to underpin, facilitate, and channel value creation from innovation and technology development toward a lower carbon footprint

At Saudi Aramco, for instance, the future for such potential technologies is being assessed, pursued and implemented across the company’s operations. An example of such technologies is carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) that reduces and removes emissions from downstream operations, then reuses and recycles them in upstream operations. Other examples of technologies geared toward improved sustainability include the move towards renewables, use of algae and planting of millions of trees to capture carbon, and the use of ammonia as a transportation fuel. Yet, continuous research and development towards both incremental and disruptive technologies will remain key to overcoming global sustainability challenges. Innovation and technologies will assure the oil and gas sector achieves a deeper reduction in emissions while providing affordable energy.