Insights and Commentaries
Saudi Arabia steps up efforts to achieve ambitious CCS targets
15th August 2024
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has recently made significant strides in advancing its carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects and initiatives, demonstrating a steadfast commitment to leading global efforts in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. In alignment with its ambitious 2060 net zero target, Saudi Arabia has set a goal to achieve 44 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) capacity by 2035, supported by its national oil company Saudi Aramco which raised its CCS target from 11 to 14 Mtpa by 2035.[i]
One of the flagship projects driving CCS in the Kingdom is the Jubail CCUS Hub. This project, the largest in the MEA region, aims to store up to 9 Mtpa of CO2 by 2027. The initial phase of the project, supported by detailed front-end engineering and design completed by Wood, includes the development of greenfield facilities for dehydration, compression, and a comprehensive pipeline network spanning over 200 kilometres to transport dense-phase CO2.[ii]
Saudi Arabia plans to transform the Jubail and Yanbu industrial clusters into regional CCS hubs. These clusters, house a number of hard-to-abate industries including gas processing, power generation, petrochemicals, cement, steel manufacturing, and hydrogen production at oil refineries. In addition, they sit atop significant CO2 geological storage capacity of 5.2 Gt in depleted gas reservoirs and 40-318 Gt in the Rub’al-Khali basin.[iii]
Industrial CCS hubs allow to shift away from small-scale, point-to-point <1 Mtpa projects to more impactful and scaled up 10-50 Mtpa projects. They also facilitate the reduction of costs and risks through the use of shared transport and storage infrastructure, enable the capture from smaller emitters, reduce the commercial risk for storage, create economies of scale, and offer the opportunity to merge with clean hydrogen valleys and connect with regional CCUS clusters.
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy, in collaboration with the Global CCS Institute, is evaluating innovative business models to incentivise and facilitate CCUS hub development in the Kingdom, particularly focusing on mitigating risks by separating responsibilities and enhancing operational efficiency.
The Kingdom’s R&D breakthroughs advance carbon capture and CO2 sequestration technologies
The Kingdom has advanced pioneering steps in carbon capture technologies and CO2 geological sequestration technology through collaborations led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). A partnership between KAUST and Sustainable Energy Solutions, a part of Chart Industries based in Utah, USA led to the development and demonstration of an innovative cryogenic carbon capture (CCC) technology at a pilot scale of a 1 ton (short ton)/day CO2 capture rate. A 200-hour test demonstrated >90% capture efficiency at the 1 ton/d scale.[iv]
Other partnerships led by KAUST enabled innovative methods for injecting CO2 into basalt formations, where it undergoes mineralisation, transforming into stable carbonate rocks permanently.[v]
Saudi Arabia’s first Direct Air Capture unit is under development by Saudi Aramco in Dhahran, slated for completion later in 2024. This facility will play a crucial role in enhancing the Kingdom's capacity to capture and utilize CO2 emissions effectively.[vi]
Saudi clean hydrogen is steadily gaining momentum
In 2021, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud announced that the Kingdom aims to become the world’s top supplier of clean hydrogen, targeting 4 Mtpa by 2030. Additionally, Saudi Aramco announced a clean ammonia target of 11 Mtpa by 2035, which would require 1.94 Mtpa of clean hydrogen production. More recently, Saudi Aramco acquired 50% of Air Products Qudra's hydrogen industrial gases business, aiming to develop a clean hydrogen network in the Eastern Province, serving both domestic and regional customers.[vii] Saudi Arabia’s investments in clean hydrogen production are likely to increase following Japan’s Contract for Difference (CfD) subsidy scheme, which plans to tackle the price gap between grey and clean hydrogen by providing subsidies for a term of up to 15 years. Saudi Arabia has already demonstrated its export potential to Japan through a joint venture between Fuji Oil Company, SABIC Agri-nutrients, Aramco and Mitsui OSK Lines which saw a first shipment of clean ammonia from Saudi Arabia to Japan.[viii]
Saudi Arabia’s clean hydrogen strategy and ambition is especially highlighted in the recent Routledge book “The Clean Hydrogen Economy and Saudi Arabia”. The book advocates for a colour-blind hydrogen strategy with a focus on emissions reductions, highlighting the essential role of CCS in clean hydrogen production and as a cross-cutting component of the Kingdom’s Circular Carbon Economy approach (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Saudi Arabia’s CCE approach..[ix]
Saudi Arabia is leading global climate initiatives on carbon management
Internationally, Saudi Arabia is actively engaged in initiatives aimed at accelerating the deployment of CCS technologies globally. Notably, the Kingdom is participating in the Mission Innovation-led SMART CDR Competition, focusing on innovative solutions for Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) for Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR).[x] Saudi Arabia is also one of the co-leads of the Clean Energy Ministerial CCUS Initiative which aims to accelerate the deployment of CCUS as a viable CO2 mitigation option. As a participant of the Carbon Management Challenge, a joint effort and call to action by countries worldwide to accelerate the deployment of carbon capture, removal, use, and storage technologies, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia works alongside other nations to raise the ambition and increase the pace and scale of deployment of carbon management technologies and infrastructure.
In addition, the Kingdom's Ministry of Economy and Planning and Ministry of Energy, in collaboration with UpLink, announced the launch of the Carbon Capture and Utilization Challenge, which aims at seeking innovative solutions that accelerate the circular carbon economy. The challenge was launched during the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) in a main session titled 'SDG 13 and Interlinkages with Other SDGs – Climate Action' held on 10th of July 2024.[xi]
Collectively, participation of Saudi Arabia in these global initiatives underscores Saudi Arabia's pivotal role in advancing the circular carbon economy framework and its commitment to advancing the deployment of carbon management technologies to achieve climate goals.
Authorship of this insight was lead by the Institute's MEA Business Development Lead, Maryem El Farsaoui
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[i] Saudi Aramco, Sustainability Report, https://www.aramco.com/-/media/publications/corporate-reports/sustainability-reports/report-2023/english/2023-saudi-aramco-sustainability-report-full-en.pdf
[ii] Wood, “Wood completes the Preliminary Engineering for the world’s largest carbon capture and sequestration hub in Saudi Arabia,” 2024, https://www.woodplc.com/news/latest-press-releases/2024/wood-completes-preliminary-engineering-for-worlds-largest-carbon-capture-and-sequestration-hub
[iii] Lockwood, Toby, Azadegan, Olivia, “Ready to deploy: How Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates can scale up carbon capture and storage in the Gulf”, 2023, https://www.catf.us/2023/10/ready-deploy-how-saudi-arabia-united-arab-emirates-scale-up-carbon-capture-storage-gulf/
[iv] KAUST, Carbon Capture, https://robertsgroup.kaust.edu.sa/ccc
[v] Aramco, https://www.aramco.com/-/media/publications/corporate-reports/sustainability-reports/report-2023/english/2023-supporting-the-energy-and-materials-transition-en.pdf
[vi] Aramco Life, "Aramco and the direct air capture of CO2”, https://www.aramcolife.com/en/publications/the-arabian-sun/articles/2024/week-12/dac-project
[vii] Aramco, “Aramco to acquire 50% stake in Air Products Qudra’s Blue Hydrogen Industrial Gases Company”, https://www.aramco.com/en/news-media/news/2024/aramco-to-acquire-50-stake-in-air-products-qudras-blue-hydrogen-industrial-gases-company
[viii] “Saudi-Japan joint venture receives first low-carbon ammonia shipment,”
https://www.power-technology.com/news/japan-ammonia-co-firing-saudi-hydrogen/?cf-view
[ix] Shabaneh, R., Roychoudhury, J., Braun, J.F., & Saxena, S. (Eds.). (2024). The Clean Hydrogen Economy and Saudi Arabia: Domestic Developments and International Opportunities (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003294290
[x] Smart Innovation, “SMART CDR Competition” https://mission-innovation.net/missions/carbon-dioxide-removal/smart-cdr-competition/
[xi] WEF, Carbon Capture and Utilisation Challenge, https://uplink.weforum.org/uplink/s/uplink-issue/a00TE0000080E1a/carbon-capture-and-utilization-challenge