Qatar's 2030 Vision recognises that environmental management is as much a concern as social development and economic growth. The key to achieving this vision is to advance all three concurrently to sustainable levels. However, they don't necessarily work off each other - reducing CO2 emissions might have a negative effect on the country's potential for growth for example.
The latest figures released by the US Department of Energy's Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Centre (CDIAC) regarding CO2 per capita emissions, places Qatar at the top. Qatar produced 53.5 metric tonnes of CO2 gas for every person living here in 2008. This was 70% more than Trinidad & Tobago - which was in second place - and 64% more than the UAE in third. Meanwhile, China - which is heavily criticised for its apathy towards the environment - only produced 5.3 metric tonnes of CO2 gas per capita in the same year.
China, with a population of 1.4 billion, is the most populous country in the world - so this figure should be put into context. It produced almost a quarter of the world's total CO2 gases - over seven billion metric tonnes - in 2008, while Qatar was reported to have produced only one quarter of 1%.
There are two ways of looking at this. One is that every country should have a moral and a legal responsibility to keep this figure at a relatively reasonable level.
Qatar is producing almost twice as much CO2 per person as the next country highest-producing country. Is this responsible? Another is to take a step back and ask why it is producing so much CO2.
Qatar is the world's largest producer of liquified natural gas (LNG) and supplies it with 30% of its demand. It is also in the business of producing oil and various other petrochemicals to satisfy the insatiable global demand for these products.
Because of this, carbon emissions are high. To power the world's requirements in the absence of capable renewable resources, these products are a global necessity.
Natural gas - 30% less carbon than oil, 60% less carbon than coal.
According to ExxonMobil, natural gas has already proven itself to be a safe and reliable source of energy for power generation. With this successful track record and the availability of abundant economic supplies, it will grow to provide 30% of the world's electricity- generation needs by the year 2040 - up from just over 20% today. Its benefits are numerous - it is a versatile fuel that can be used for many purposes, and it is the cleanest-burning fossil fuel.
It is less carbon-intensive than other fossil fuels, with 30% less carbon than oil and 60 % less carbon than coal.
A package of measures to combat climate change was agreed at the 2005 G8 Summit, including improvements to energy efficiency in appliances and buildings, cleaner vehicles (including aircraft), work on developing cleaner fuels and more use of renewable energy. During the 2008 G8 Summit in Tokyo, world leaders reinforced the notion that "this global challenge can only be met by a global response" and they are now working towards a policy to reduce global emissions by 50% by 2050. In mid-2009, Qatar bcame the first GCC country to join the World Bank initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from gas flaring. The parnership launched a three-year programme aimed at reducing 2007 levels of flaring and promoted the use of associated natural gas, which reduces flaring and venting, which contribute to the causing of climate change.
So why is Qatar, and the oil and gas companies in particular, coming in for harsh criticism in the wake of these figures? Qatar is a tiny country, both in scale of population and size, so a per-capita metric - against the huge oil and gas reserves that the country has at its disposal - may be an unfair metric when analysing its conduct. What's ironic is that Qatar is producing an abundance of CO2 gas in order to supply the rest of the world with a clean and efficient fuel. The Minister for Energy and Industry, HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada recently said that many of Qatar's products reach countries which have traditionally been dependant on coal, a resource that emits a higher rate of CO2 than natural gas.
Reducing the footprint
Qatar Today asked a number of companies in the oil and gas sector about the issues of CO2 emissions and their initiatives for reducing the country's carbon footprint.
Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Maersk Oil recently received recognition from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) for their short film Setting a New Standard, which highlights their efforts to successfully reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Qatar's Al Shaheen field as part of the UN's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The film offers a unique insight into the world-class technical execution and environmental management behind the Al Shaheen development - including its gas recovery and flare reduction project - which was recognised in 2007 by the UN as the world's largest CDM project.
Technology at work
GE has played a significant role in Qatar's energy infrastructure development over the past 35 years. It works closely with Qatargas, RasGas and Al Shaheen Energy Services to develop technology solutions to enhance the efficiencies of LNG production. "Qatar has been making concerted efforts to promote sustainable development," says Rami Qasem, CEO, MENA and Turkey, GE Oil & Gas. "An example of one of their initiatives is to set the emission level at 9 ppm (parts per million), which is more stringent than most international standards. The decree also states that wherever there is an environmental cost to be paid for economic progress, it must be compensated with investments in technologies that help improve the environment."
The company supports its customers in meeting the country's emissions regulations and lowering their emissions during operations with the advanced DLN technology. "Recently, Qatargas selected GE Oil & Gas to supply advanced Dry Low NOx (DLN) technology that will reduce gas turbine emissions at the Qatargas 1 utility complex to help meet new regulations from the Ministry of Environment," Qasem explains. "We are providing the DLN 1.0 combustion system, designed to achieve low emissions levels. The DLN combustion system upgrades are designed to assist Qatargas towards compliance with strict environmental regulations and business and environmental needs for reduced emissions, and to eliminate the need for diluents injection or Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) systems, which are more difficult to maintain and have additional safety issues to manage.
"Through a long-term maintenance agreement with RasGas, which is one of the world's largest producers of LNG, we are also applying DLN combustion technology to reduce gas turbine emissions at RasGas' LNG complex at Ras Laffan Industrial City.
When the DLN retrofit project started, the gas turbine NOx emissions were in the range of 70 ppm. Today, the machines' emissions meet the country's environmental objective of 9 ppm. With the first installation of GE's DLN technology here, RasGas is considered one of the most environmentally responsible LNG plants in the country."
GE recently inaugurated the 13,400 sq m Advanced Technology and Research Centre (ATRC) at Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), focused on applied research and knowledge transfer. Much of its research here is on the application of advanced turbo machinery within gas-to liquid (GTL), natural gas liquefaction and gas re-injection applications. It is also dedicating a lot of investment to other environmental projects, one of which is "Ecomagination".
Ecomagination is a business response to the needs of industries and consumers around the world. GE has been using its energy, technology, manufacturing and infrastructure capabilities to develop solutions to environmental challenges. It added 34 new products and services in 2011 alone. This brings the total number of ecomagination portfolio offerings to 142 since its launch.
"We believe that innovation can solve the toughest environmental challenges," says Qasem. "Attaining a balance between socioeconomic development and the environment is possible, as the success of our Ecomagintion commitment demonstrates."
Research underway
ExxonMobil Research Qatar (EMRQ) opened its facility at QSTP in 2009 to conduct specialised research. With a commitment to invest more than QR218 million through to 2014, scientists continue to advance projects in the areas of environmental management, water re-use, LNG safety and coastal geology.
It recently announced and filed a patent for a new technology advancement developed to enhance safety and environmental performance associated with LNG production. This advancement is a remote gas detection system to autonomously scan for and identify hydrocarbon gas emissions in gas production and transport facilities. The system uses infrared camera technology enhanced with a sophisticated software algorithm to selectively identify hydrocarbons in the field of view, enabling continuous surveillance.
"The remote gas detection system will be highly beneficial because early detection can help avert potential safety hazards and reduce emissions to the environment," said Dr. Andy Wigton, Research Director at ExxonMobil Research Qatar. Another example of ExxonMobil's investment in renewables includes the company's collaboration with Synthetic Genombiofuel. Researchers are hoping to develop strains of algae that could ultimately produce refinery feedstock for the production of transportation fuels. Certain types of algae, grown with water, sunlight, carbon dioxide and nutrients, could produce bio-oils on a sufficient scale to be processed in its refineries to supplement supplies of conventionally generated gasoline, diesel, aviation and marine fuels. If research and development milestones are successfully met, the company expects to spend more than QR2.2 billion on this programme over the next decade.
Alternative resources
Sasol is an energy and chemicals company that converts coal and gas into liquid fuels, fuel components and chemicals through its proprietary Fischer-Tropsch (FT) processes. It pursues international opportunities to commercialise its gas-to-liquids (GTL) and coal-to-liquids (CTL) technology, so in partnership with QP it started up its first international GTL plant, Oryx GTL, in 2007. GTL takes natural gas and converts it to low-sulphur environment- friendly diesel, naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). GTL technology has been around for decades, however, only with advances in catalyst research has it become economically attractive.
"Sasol is fully aware of the need to shift to a low-carbon future and of the need to prepare for this reality. We have therefore been actively implementing measures to mitigate our emissions and to better understand the need for adaptation," says Jacqui O'Sullivan, Sasol's Group Communications Manager.
Sasol New Energy (SNE) focuses on developing options and new technologies for Sasol to utilise in a carbon-constrained world. SNE is working to ensure that the group increases internal electricity generation capacity in South Africa using natural gas as a feedstock. These steps will ensure Sasol's sustainable and responsible growth.
"We believe that measures to mitigate emissions must seek to find an appropriate balance between environmental effectiveness, economic efficiency and social equity. Sasol is working with governments and other stakeholders to transition towards a lower-carbon future," O'Sullivan explains.
"We have developed a comprehensive climate change response strategy and have adopted ambitious emission reduction targets. We have committed to reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions intensity of all our operations by 15% by 2020 on a 2005 baseline, and to reducing our absolute GHG emissions by 20% for new coal-to-liquids (CTL) plants commissioned before 2020, and by 30% for plants commissioned before 2030, with the average 2005 CTL design as the baseline.
"Sasol will strive to meet these targets in various ways, including promoting energy-efficiency measures in our existing plants and processes; developing and implementing alternative energy and carbon-efficient technologies and processes, primarily through SNE; investigating opportunities for carbon capture and storage (CCS) as part of our global CO2 mitigation efforts; actively pursuing mitigation-related financial instruments such as the clean development mechanism (CDM); and working with other stakeholders in the countries where we operate," she says.
© Qatar Today 2012
