‘Kuwait taps renewable energy in oil extraction’
KFAS chief attends confab on transfer of renewable energy in ME
BEIRUT, Dec 6, (KUNA): The State of Kuwait is growingly interested in drawing upon renewable energy in the extraction of oil in an effort to curtail carbon dioxide, said a Kuwaiti scientific official.
“The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) has gotten plans to curb carbon dioxide emissions in the processes of extraction, production and conversion (of oil),” Director-General of Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) Adnan Shihab Eldin said to KUNA while attending a conference on transfer of renewable energy in Middle East, held in the Lebanese capital, Beirut.
“The KPC has commenced blueprints to carry out some projects aiming at storing carbon dioxide on the one hand, and to boost reliance on renewable energy on the other hand,” he added.
He underlined the significance of renewable energy in Kuwait, which could contribute to producing 15 percent of electricity generation in the country, noting that the oil sector is helping in building renewable-energy power plants in the country.
Speaking during the energy event, Shihab Eldin urged the Arabs, who hold more than 50 percent of the world’s oil needs, to maintain a sustainable role of oil and gas which contribute to the countries’ economies.
Non-oil
However, the Kuwaiti official emphasized that Arab countries have to work in earnest to find other non-oil sources of income.
“We need to work on two points: First; boosting the contribution of the non-oil sector to economy, and, second; reducing the effect of the oil sector on environment in order to tap our underground available large quantities,” he requested.
The KFAS chief believed that the current global energy changes are significantly reflecting on the Arab region, which is one of the world’s major oil production regions.
Co-organized by the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), the Beirut-hosted conference mainly addressed the economic dimensions, impacts and causes of global energy changes, mainly on the Arab region.
The conferees also considered price dynamics, sustainable energy systems, challenges and opportunities Arab countries are currently facing, energy efficiency, investment in clean technology, climate change and renewable energy.