Hydrocarbons' future lies in low carbon products produced through technologies such as carbon capture and sequestration and the conversion of extremely competitive hydrocarbons into more valuable carbon-based-high-performance materials, and hydrogen, an energy carrier, the Chief Technology Officer of Saudi Aramco said.

Ahmad Al Khowaiter said Saudi Arabia is advantageous not just in the production of low-cost hydrocarbons but also in the low-cost decarbonisation of hydrocarbons.

"The industry needs a long-term view towards CO2 and emissions. Today, we have the lowest carbon footprint associated with oil production than any other major oil producer in the world because we invested long ago in the late 70s in capturing the associated gas for environmental reasons, which had zero value at the time, but which turned out to be great economic reasons. For example, we have about 10 kilograms of CO2 emitted with every barrel of oil we produce, which is far lower than the global average, which ranges between 40-60 kgs", he said, speaking at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in early January.

"We are investing today for the long term; First, in the efficiency of our existing hydrocarbon production but also in developing new low emission uses of the resources we have. For example, our use of hydrocarbons goes beyond energy," he said.

"We have a major programme called 'crude to chemicals' because chemicals are a major growth area. It's necessary that the materials of the transition are mainly polymers and carbon-based products which allow.... efficient low-emission technologies", the CTO said.

He noted that it would be very challenging to achieve net zero in the timeframe people are talking about without new technologies. "We are working on some of those technologies (like) carbon capture and direct air capture... which could be a breakthrough for the world.... It is needed as the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has said we could not meet net zero without negative emissions. We are closer to net zero than any other oil producer and could be most competitive even in a net zero world", Al Khowaiter said.

(Reporting by Sowmya Sundar; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@refinitiv.com)

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