Adnoc to explore new fuels for future potential
▶ Oil demand will grow to more than 105 million barrels per day by 2030, chief executive says
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. And importantly, we will explore the potential of new fuels such as hydrogen,” 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 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 Mussaffah, 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 said 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,” Dr Al Jaber said.
He also highlighted the company’s shift to digitisation and the cost efficiencies that could be 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,” Dr Al Jaber 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 global exploration and production market.
AIQ is a joint venture between G42 and Adnoc to develop and commercialise AI products and applications for the oil and gas industry.
Dr Al Jaber said that 75 million barrels per day of oil were consumed around the world between March and April