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Introduction
Introduction
Saudi Arabia is well known for its oil production. This is all done through a state-owned company called Aramco (the company that my parents work for). Despite the Saudi state’s monopoly, selling 10 percent of the world's oil, they still have some ambitious plans. Plans to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Is this greenwashing propaganda? Or a real achievable goal?
Personal Risk and Involvement.
Personal Risk and Involvement.
You might be wondering why Aramco would even attempt to seem more “green,” and there are a couple of reasons. One of them is that Saudi has a lot of skin in the game. Due to its proximity to the equator, it is getting hotter and hotter to the point where temperatures could be life-threatening. Summers are regularly topping 120 F (49 C). Another reason for their environmental initiatives is if they have their citizens go carbon-free, then that frees up more oil to sell to the international market. 25% of the oil they produce is used by their domestic market. Armco is also well aware that oil is not a renewable resource; once you drain it, all there goes your cash cow. Aramco is dipping its toes in other areas of energy production to try and prevent that.
“They like to have their cake and eat it,” The Saudis’ ambition is to be the last man standing in the global oil market. They want the last drop of oil drilled to come from a Saudi field.”- Jim Krane (energy geopolitics expert at Rice University in Houston)
NEOM
NEOM
If you keep up with the news, you might have heard of The Line, but The Line is only a fourth of the project called NEOM. NEOM is a planned city in Saudi Arabia that was announced in 2017 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Its goal is to diversify the Saudi Arabian economy and create a hub for innovation, tourism, and business. NEOM is supposed to be a sustainable city that will run on renewable energy and be completely carbon neutral. It is an ambitious megaproject that will cover an area of over 10,000 square miles and is expected to cost over $500 billion to build. But there is a lot of doubt surrounding its completion, although they already have some of its infrastructure in place. In fact, my parents have a teacher friend who is working there currently.
At NEOM, we are 'dreamers and doers.' Making our dream a reality isn't just about doing what is impossible, it's also about doing what is right.- Nadhmi Al-Nasr (CEO, NEOM)
The Refinery
The Refinery
Maya Siddiqui—Bloomberg/Getty images
The Residential Camp
The Residential Camp
Ayesha Malik --The Times
Saudi Green Initiative
Saudi Green Initiative
Fayez Nureldine—AFP/Getty Images
More Plans
More Plans
NOEM is not Saudi Arabia’s only ambitious plan for the future. One of these plans has a projected completion date of 2060, called 2060. This plan is supposed to be a revamp of the entire lifestyle of the Saudi people. It plans to move to more liberal policies and reduce its dependence on foreign workers and oil as a revenue source. Perhaps most relevant to this blog, Saudi consequently intends to become 100% carbon neutral. Another enterprising plan that they have is trying to capture and reuse the carbon that is expelled during the oil extraction process, using this excess carbon to turn it into phytochemicals. This photochemical is called “blue” hydrogen. Aramco shipped off its first delivery of blue hydrogen to Japan in 2020. They are also working to develop Green hydrogen with Germany, as well as creating a synthetic fuel source formed from captured carbon and hydrogen, which claims to cut pollution by 80% from regular cars.
We have a mandate from the King to make all buildings retrofitted for energy efficiency, We have our own capital to finance all our projects, so we don’t need to go to banks or any lending institutions.” -Mudhyan al-Mudhyan (of the National Energy Services Company.)
Disclaimer
Disclaimer
The root of all of these sources is Aramco itself, so take all of this with a large grain of salt. As Saudi Arabia has complete control over its media and doesn't let foreigners look at any of the processes. Saudi has a history of warping the narrative, even going as far as assassinating a journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi does not plan to stop selling oil; if anything, they plan to sell more of it “QUOTE” Aramco as a company has been completely state-owned since the 1980s, which means they are completely tangled together and indistinguishable. There are also a lot of professionals and agencies that are skeptical, including the IEA (International Energy Agency). Environmentalists have reported that Saudi Arabia produced 491.66 Metric Tons of greenhouse gas in 2018, and the amount of greenhouse gases has seen an increase of 225.37% since 1990.
“Aramco has no plans to reduce oil and gas production by 2030, they have a long history of fighting efforts to tackle climate change.” -ClientEarth (an international environmental legal organization.)
Conclusion
Conclusion
My final thoughts are that Saudi has the resources and the motivation to see its plans through, but they have a bad history of completion as they are known to abandon projects. “They have built a lot of know-how and a lot of capacity. They have the pipeline infrastructure, the ports infrastructure,” says Saffar of the International Energy Agency. Aramco also has something that makes it stand out from other mega oil companies: long-term results. Aramco knows more than anyone else that oil will not last forever; they don't have honorable intentions. Saudi Arabia wants money and is somewhat transparent about it. Even though all of these plans are “environmentally friendly,” they are also a new renewable source of revenue. That's the difference between Armaco and other oil companies. Aramco is investing more in the future than in the present.
"One of Saudi Arabia's goal for vision 2030 is to reduce the Kingdom's oil consumption by developing more carbon neutral projects with the goal to be totally carbon neutral by 2060. So why are they doing this since they have so much oil? Three reasons: First, they want to reduce local consumption so they can increase exports and make more money. Second, they know that oil is a limited resource and likely to run out in 75 years so they need to be ready for a world without oil. Third, they do want to help they environment, but Saudi Arabia is still a developing country so most of the population is not educated on how to help the environment. For example, it's still common to see people throw garbage out of their car windows. With time and money, their goals and vision might just work."- Jonathan DuPont (My Dad someone who has lived there for 12 years)
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